Malleus (bivalve)

Malleus
Malleus malleus (Linnaeus, 1758), museum specimens
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Pterioida
Family: Malleidae
Genus: Malleus
Lamarck, 1799

Malleus is a genus of hammer oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Malleidae, the hammer oysters. This genus includes 27 known species.

Characteristic of this genus is the unusual "hammer-shaped" outline of the valves. The shells are nearly equivalved, but the hinge line is extremely long and is at nearly a right angle to the rest of the valves, which grow ventrally. The viscera of the organism are arranged in an oval-shaped patch near the umbones of the valves.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Julia Ellen Rogers (1913). The Shell Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Families of Living Mollusks, and an Aid to the Identification of Shells Native and Foreign. Doubleday, Page. p. 399.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.