The Semelidae are a family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of clam

Clam

The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...

s, marine

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 bivalve molluscs of the order Veneroida

Veneroida

The Veneroida or veneroids are an order of bivalve molluscs. They include some familiar forms such as saltwater clams and cockles, and a number of freshwater bivalves including zebra mussels....

.

Characteristics

Menbers of this family have rounded or oval, elongated shells, much flattened. The two valves are connected by an internal ligament in contrast to the closely related family Tellinidae

Tellinidae

Tellinidae is a family of marine bivalve molluscs of the order Veneroida. They live under soft sediments in shallow seas.-Characteristics:Tellinids have rounded or oval, elongated shells, much flattened. The two valves are connected by a large external ligament. The two separate siphons are...

 where the ligament is external. The two separate siphons are very long, sometimes several times the length of the shell. These siphons have a characteristic cruciform muscle at their base.

Genera

Genera and species recognised in the ITIS Standard Report:

• Abra Lamarck, 1818
  • Abra aequalis (Say
    Thomas Say
    Thomas Say was an American naturalist, entomologist, malacologist, herpetologist and carcinologist. A taxonomist, he is often considered to be the father of descriptive entomology in the United States. He described more than 1,000 new species of beetles and over 400 species of insects of other...
    
    , 1822)
  • Abra alba
    Abra alba
    Abra alba or the white furrow shell is a species of bivalve mollusc in the Semelidae family. It occurs in the north eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, where it lives on the floor in shallow areas buried in soft sediments....
    
    (Wood W., 1802)
  • Abra californica Kundsen, 1970
  • Abra lioica (Dall
    W. H. Dall
    William Healey Dall was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska...
    
    , 1881)
  • Abra longicallis Sacchi, 1836
  • Abra nitida (O. F. Mueller, 1776)
  • Abra pacifica Dall
    W. H. Dall
    William Healey Dall was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska...
    
    , 1915
  • Abra prismatica
  • Abra profundorum E. A. Smith, 1885
  • Abra tenuis (Montagu, 1818)
  • Abra tepocana Dall
    W. H. Dall
    William Healey Dall was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska...
    
    , 1915
• Cumingia G. B. Sowerby I, 1833
  • Cumingia californica Conrad
    Timothy Abbott Conrad
    Timothy Abbott Conrad was an American geologist, malacologist and carcinologist.- External links :* at Internet Archive...
    
    , 1837
  • Cumingia coarctata G. B. Sowerby I, 1833
  • Cumingia tellinoides (Conrad
    Timothy Abbott Conrad
    Timothy Abbott Conrad was an American geologist, malacologist and carcinologist.- External links :* at Internet Archive...
    
    , 1831)
• Ervilia Turton
  William Turton
  William Turton was a British naturalist.Turton was born at Olveston, Gloucestershire and was educated at Oriel College, Oxford. He commenced in practice at Swansea, but devoted his leisure time to natural history, especially conchology...
  
  , 1822
  • Ervilia bisculpta Gould, 1861
  • Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803)
  • Ervilia concentrica (Holmes, 1860)
  • Ervilia nitens (Montagu, 1808)
  • Ervilia producta Odhner, 1922
  • Ervilia purpurea (Smith, 1906)
  • Ervilia scaliola
• Leptomya A. Adams
  Arthur Adams (zoologist)
  Arthur Adams was an English physician and naturalist.Adams was assistant surgeon on board H.M.S. "Actaeon" in company with HMS Samarang in the British Navy during the survey of the Malay Archipelago, the Japan Sea, Korea and China,from 1843 to 1846. He edited the Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S....
  
  , 1864
  • Leptomya retiara aucklandica Powell
    Arthur William Baden Powell
    Dr Arthur William Baden Powell CBE was a New Zealand malacologist, naturalist and palaeontologist, a major influence in the study and classification of New Zealand molluscs through much of the twentieth century. He was known to his friends and family by his third name, "Baden".Powell was born at...
    
    
  • Leptomya retiara retiara (Hutton
    Frederick Wollaston Hutton
    Captain Frederick Wollaston Hutton, FRS, was an English scientist who applied the theory of natural selection to explain the origins and nature of the natural history of New Zealand.- Biography :...
    
    , 1885)
• Scrobicularia Schumacher, 1815
  • Scrobicularia plana
    Peppery furrow shell
    The peppery furrow shell, Scrobicularia plana, also known as a sand gaper, is the only species currently recognized by ITIS in the genus Scrobicularia; however some sources recognise other species such as Scrobicularia cottardi. It is a bivalve mollusc commonly found on sandy or muddy sea coasts...
    
    - Peppery furrow shell
• Semele Schumacher, 1817
  • Semele bellastriata (Conrad
    Timothy Abbott Conrad
    Timothy Abbott Conrad was an American geologist, malacologist and carcinologist.- External links :* at Internet Archive...
    
    , 1837)
  • Semele brambleyae (Powell
    Arthur William Baden Powell
    Dr Arthur William Baden Powell CBE was a New Zealand malacologist, naturalist and palaeontologist, a major influence in the study and classification of New Zealand molluscs through much of the twentieth century. He was known to his friends and family by his third name, "Baden".Powell was born at...
    
    , 1967)
  • Semele decisa (Conrad
    Timothy Abbott Conrad
    Timothy Abbott Conrad was an American geologist, malacologist and carcinologist.- External links :* at Internet Archive...
    
    , 1837)
  • Semele incongrua Carpenter
    Phillip Pearsall Carpenter
    Philip Pearsall Carpenter Rev. Dr. , who in 1841, was ordained Presbyterian minister in England, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in 1860, and whose field work as a malacologist or conchologist in North America is still well regarded today...
    
    , 1864
  • Semele proficua (Pulteney, 1799)
  • Semele pulchra (G. B. Sowerby I, 1832)
  • Semele purpurascens (Gmelin
    Johann Friedrich Gmelin
    Johann Friedrich Gmelin was a German naturalist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist and malacologist.- Education :Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp Friedrich Gmelin in 1748 in Tübingen...
    
    , 1791)
  • Semele rubicola Dall
    W. H. Dall
    William Healey Dall was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska...
    
    , 1915
  • Semele rubropicta Dall
    W. H. Dall
    William Healey Dall was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska...
    
    , 1871
  • Semele rupicola Dall
    W. H. Dall
    William Healey Dall was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska...
    
    , 1915
  • Semele venusta (Reeve
    Lovell Augustus Reeve
    Lovell Augustus Reeve was an English conchologist.Lovell Augustus Reeve was initially apprenticed to a grocer of Ludgate Hill between 1827 and '34...
    
    , 1853)
• Semelina Dall
  W. H. Dall
  William Healey Dall was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska...
  
  , 1900
  • Semelina nuculoides (Conrad
    Timothy Abbott Conrad
    Timothy Abbott Conrad was an American geologist, malacologist and carcinologist.- External links :* at Internet Archive...
    
    , 1841)
• Theora H. Adams
  Henry Adams (zoologist)
  Henry Adams was an English naturalist and conchologist.With his brother Arthur Adams, also a noted conchologist, he wrote three volumes, 1858.-References:...
  
   and A. Adams
  Arthur Adams (zoologist)
  Arthur Adams was an English physician and naturalist.Adams was assistant surgeon on board H.M.S. "Actaeon" in company with HMS Samarang in the British Navy during the survey of the Malay Archipelago, the Japan Sea, Korea and China,from 1843 to 1846. He edited the Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S....
  
  , 1856
  • Theora lubrica Gould
    Augustus Addison Gould
    Augustus Addison Gould was an American conchologist and malacologist.-Biography:...
    
    , 1861
  • Theora mesopotamica Annandale 1918