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Venus (bivalve)

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Venus clam
Temporal range: Cretaceous - Present
Venus affinis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Venerida
Superfamily: Veneroidea
Family: Veneridae
Genus: Venus
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Venus verrucosa
Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
  • Antigona (Ventricola) Römer, 1867 ·
  • Clausina T. Brown, 1827 (invalid: junior objective synonym of Venus)
  • Cytherea (Ventricola) Römer, 1867 ·
  • Ventricola Römer, 1867
  • Venulites Schlotheim, 1813 ·
  • Venus (Ventricola) Römer, 1867 ·
  • Venus (Ventricoloidea) Sacco, 1900 alternate representation
  • Venus (Venus) Linnaeus, 1758 alternate representation
  • Venusarius Duméril, 1805

Venus is a genus of small to large saltwater clams in the family Veneridae, which is sometimes known as the Venus clams and their relatives. These are marine bivalve molluscs.

Etymology

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The genus Venus is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and sexuality.

Taxonomy

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However, some bivalves are still called Venus clams because they used to be in the genus Venus, though they are now placed in other genera: these include the species within the genus Mercenaria, and Pitar dione, the Venus shell described in sexual terms by Linnaeus.[1][2]

Fossil records

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The genus is known from the Cretaceous to the recent periods (age range: from 136.4 Mya to now). Fossils shells have been found all over the world. About 20 extinct species are known.[3]

The family Veneridae

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The family Veneridae contains over 400 known species, many of which are attractive and popular with shell-collectors.

The shells of venerids vary in shape, and include shells that are circular, triangular, and rectangular. Characteristically, Venus clams possess a porcelain-like inner shell layer, a complex tooth structure in the hinge, well-developed escutcheon and lunule, and a well-developed pallial sinus.

Veneridae colonize the sandy ocean bottom, and their populations are often dense and large. The Veneroida order typically has a folded gill structure which is well developed for filtering out small food particles.

Common name

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Linnaeus's 1771 drawing of the elegant Venus clam, which he had named "Venus dione"

The common names of clams in this genus often include the name Venus. A few species that still have "Venus" as part of their common name, but which are no longer in the genus Venus are:

Species

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Venus declivis

The genus Venus contains these extant species:[4]

References

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  1. ^ Linnaeus (1758). Systema Naturae (10th ed.). pp. 684–685.
  2. ^ Linnaeus (1767). Systema Naturae (12th ed.). pp. 1128–1129.
  3. ^ Fossilworks
  4. ^ Philippe Bouchet, Mark Huber & Serge Gofas (2012). "Venus Linnaeus, 1758". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
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