Catalogue and bibliography of Recent and fossil Botula (Bivalvia: Mytilidae)
Author
Kleemann, Karl
text
Zootaxa
2007
1508
1
48
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.177199
e7464a80-067d-41b3-91eb-fcfd3f3b8f5c
1175-5326
177199
Lithophaga
Röding, 1798
(
Fig. 1
)
Type
species.
L. mytuloides
Röding, 1798
, by monotypy, referring to Gmelin’s (1791: 3351) species 6,
Mytilus lithophagus
Linnaeus, 1758
.
Diagnosis.
Shell cylindrical, posteriorly more compressed, with vertical striae antero-ventrally and lacking any self-deposited calcareous incrustation (subgenus
Lithophaga
) or shell smooth and (partly) covered with own incrustations, particularly on the posterior half (subgenus
Leiosolenus
Carpenter, 1857
). Umbones subterminal, ligament deep-set, along a toothless hinge.
Remarks.
Anal and branchial siphons fused as in
Adula
, but the branchial part lacks papillae on its edge in
Lithophaga
. In
L. lithophaga
, there is a tonguelike structure, the valvular membrane, with minute papillae at the base of the branchial sipho (
List 1902: pl. 7, fig. 6
). Some examples of valvular siphonal membranes with central lappet and lateral digits in three
L. (
Leiosolenus
)
species are figured in
Wilson (1985
: figs. 5 and 7a, c), those of
B. fusca
by
Wilson & Tait (1984: figs. 4, 5A, B)
. All seem to be quite variable and, therefore, of no help for species determination.