Pteriidae

Feather oysters
A live individual of Pinctada margaritifera
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Pterioida
Family: Pteriidae
Gray, 1847
Genera

See text

Pteriidae, also called the feather oysters, is a family of medium-sized to large saltwater clams. They are pearl oysters, marine bivalve molluscs in the order Pterioida.[1]

Some of the species in this family are important economically as the source of saltwater pearls.

Genera

Genera in the family Pteriidae include:

  • Crenatula Lamarck, 1803
  • Electroma Stoliczka, 1871
  • Isognomon Lightfoot, 1786 - tree oysters
  • Pinctada Röding, 1798
  • Pteria Scopoli, 1777 - winged oysters
  • Vulsella Röding, 1798

References

  1. ↑ Pteriidae Gray, 1847.  Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 9 July 2010.
  • Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
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