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    • Newsletters 1961 - 2002
      • Collecting localities in the Cape Province
      • Field meeting Walton-on-Naze
      • Field meeting to Box Hill
      • Herons, Moorhens and Rats feeding on Anodonta anatina
      • Introduction
      • Introduction to molluscan taxonomy 1) Species and subspecies
      • Oyster Catchers feeding on Patella vulgata
      • Volutes
      • Issue 3
        • Introduction to molluscan taxonomy 2) The significance of types
        • Land and freshwater snails: additions to the British List since 1926
        • Littoral collecting in the Scilly Isles
        • Snails in a Sussex garden
      • Issue 4
        • Biographical Note
        • Introduction to molluscan taxonomy 3) The genus
        • Learning in Nucella lapillus
        • Mollusca on Liverpool bomb sites
        • The Cardiacea
        • The Strombidae
      • Issue 5
        • A suggested method for extracting the animals from small high-spired shells
        • Commensual crabs in Mytilus edulis
        • Field meeting at Shell Bay, Dorset
        • Field meeting at West Runton and Overstrand
        • Introduction to molluscan taxonomy 4) Taxonomic history
        • J.G. Bruguiere 1750-98
      • Issue 6
        • A little more biography
        • Field meeting at Amberley
        • Field meeting to Grasswood, Yorkshire May 1962
        • Marine collecting in New Zealand
        • Marine mollusca of Carnac, Brittany
        • On the use and misuse of common names
        • Strand shells after Cornish gales
        • Trochus magus in the Isle of Wight
      • Issue 7
        • 35 years collecting
        • Field meeting Epping Forest
        • Field meeting White Downs
        • More strand shells after Cornish gales
        • Natural History Museum at Craster
        • Notes on the pholadidae
      • Issue 8
        • Field meeting at Norwich
        • Geology for conchologists - Introduction
        • Geology for conchologists - The last 15,000 years
        • The Strophocheilidae
      • Issue 9
        • More autobiography
        • Sinistrorsity
        • Some etymology
        • Systematics sewn up
      • Issue 10
        • Field meeting at Norbury Park
        • Papers for students
        • Rearing snails from the egg
      • Issue 11
        • Field meeting at Leith Hill
        • Posting living mollusca
        • Snails extinct in England but living abroad
        • The Viviparidae
    • 'Papers for students' 1964 - 1991
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Bentharca nodulosa

Submitted by Steve Wilkinson on Sat, 05/12/2009 22:15
Distribution and status

Rare. Distributed from Denmark to the Iberian Peninsula and into the Mediterranean.

Asperarca nodulosa

The map provided here shows the distribution of the species based on Conchological Society data held by the National Biodiversity Network (NBN). See terms and conditions.

The following datasets are included:

  • Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland: marine mollusc records

Open an NBN Atlas interactive map of this data in a new window.

Key identification features
  • Hinge has 10-20 teeth in a slight curve
  • Round or oval shell
  • The margin is smooth
References and links

Taxon details available from MolluscaBase (AphiaID 138791):

Asperarca nodulosa (O. F. Müller, 1776)

For the species account provided by Marine Bivalves of the British Isles click here.

The UK NBN Atlas entry for the species can be accessed via this link.

Taxon version key
[NBNSYS0000179753]
Sort order
9230
Taxonomic group
Marine bivalve
  • Read more about Bentharca nodulosa

Solid shell up to 1.5cm in length. It is dirt white in colour with yellow-brown perisostracum. The inside of the shell is white. The surface is sculptured with fine concentric ridges and very fine radiating lines.

Bathyarca petunculoides

Submitted by Steve Wilkinson on Sat, 05/12/2009 22:15
Distribution and status

Rare. Distributed from Norway south to the Iberian Peninsula and into the Mediterranean.

The map provided here shows the distribution of the species based on Conchological Society data.

Key identification features
  • The teeth are small in the middle of the hnge getting larger towards the edges
  • The left valve is more convex than the right
Taxon version key
[NBNSYS0000179687]
Sort order
9240
Taxonomic group
Marine bivalve
  • Read more about Bathyarca petunculoides

Solid shell up to 0.5cm in length. It is dirty white in colour with pale yellow periostracum. The inside of the shell is white. The surface is sculptured with fine concentric lines and radiating ridges causing the surface to appear reticulated.

Arcopella balaustina

Submitted by Steve Wilkinson on Sat, 05/12/2009 22:15
Distribution and status

Rare. Recorded from Britain south to the Iberian Peninsula and into the Mediterranean.

The map provided here shows the distribution of the species based on Conchological Society data.

Note, MolluscaBase indicates that Arcopella balaustina (Linnaeus, 1758) is the currently accepted name for this species. Arcopagia balaustina (Linnaeus, 1758) is therefore considered a synonym at present.

Ecology and behaviour

Burrows in fine sand where it feeds on organic detritus picked up through the siphon.

Similar species
  • Arcopagia crassa has a much thicker shell
Key identification features
  • Lower margin of pallial sinus not confluent with pallial line
  • Brittle oval shell
Taxon version key
[NBNSYS0000179354]
Sort order
10600
Taxonomic group
Marine bivalve
  • Read more about Arcopella balaustina

Brittle shell up to about 2cm in length. White or pale yellow in colour sometimes with pink or red-brown radiating rays. Inside of shell is polished and tinged with orange. Exterior of shell is sculptured with prominent concentric ridges.

Idas simpsoni

Submitted by Steve Wilkinson on Sat, 05/12/2009 22:15
Distribution and status

Idas simpsoni

The map provided here shows the distribution of the species based on Conchological Society data held by the National Biodiversity Network (NBN). See terms and conditions.

The following datasets are included:

  • Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland: marine mollusc records

Open an NBN Atlas interactive map of this data in a new window.

Ecology and behaviour

Found on the skulls of whales attached by byssus threads in suitable crevices.

The species has also been found on oily drill cuttings in the North Sea (Southward 2008); colonising sunken wood (Laming et. al. 2015); and from at least one cold-seep site (Ritt et. al. 2012).

Key identification features
  • The hinge is parallel to the ventral margin of the shell
References and links

Laming, S. R., Szafranski, K. M., Rodrigues, C. F., Gaudron, S. M., Cunha, M. R., Hilário, A., Le Bris, N., & Duperron, S. (2015). Fickle or Faithful: The Roles of Host and Environmental Context in Determining Symbiont Composition in Two Bathymodioline Mussels. PLoS ONE, 10(12), e0144307.

Ritt, B., Duperron, S., Lorion, J., Sara Lazar, C., & Sarrazin, J. (2012). Integrative study of a new cold-seep mussel (Mollusca: Bivalvia) associated with chemosynthetic symbionts in the Marmara Sea. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 67, 121–132.

Southward, E. C. (2008). The Morphology of Bacterial Symbioses in the Gills of Mussels of the Genera Adipicola and Idas (Bivalvia: Mytilidae). Journal of Shellfish Research, 27(1), 139–146.

Taxon details available from MolluscaBase (AphiaID 140458):

Idas simpsoni (J. T. Marshall, 1900)

For the species account provided by Marine Bivalves of the British Isles click here.

The UK NBN Atlas entry for the species can be accessed via this link.

Taxon version key
[NBNSYS0000178833]
Sort order
9320
Taxonomic group
Marine bivalve
  • Read more about Idas simpsoni

Fragile shell up to 2cm in length. It is dirty white in colour but this is obscured by yellow brown periostracum. The inside is pearl white. The surface is sculptured with fine concentric and a few radiating lines.

Acanthocardia paucicostata

Submitted by Steve Wilkinson on Sat, 05/12/2009 22:15
Distribution and status

Occurs chiefly in the Mediterranean and Black Sea and on the more southern coasts of Europe to Morocco and the Canaries. Reported in continental literature as occuring in England with the first substantiated record published in the Journal of Conchology (Barfield, 2017).

Acanthocardia paucicostata

The map provided here shows the distribution of the species based on Conchological Society data held by the National Biodiversity Network (NBN). See terms and conditions.

The following datasets are included:

  • Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland: marine mollusc records

Open an NBN Atlas interactive map of this data in a new window.

Ecology and behaviour

Lives in sand offshore from low water to about 300m.

Key identification features
  • Fine straight concentric riblets or striations between and across the ribs
References and links

Barfield, P. (2017). First evidence of the poorly ribbed cockle, Acanthocardia paucicostata (G. B. Sowerby II, 1834) in UK waters. Journal of Conchology,  42(6), 537-539.

Taxon details available from MolluscaBase (AphiaID 138993):

Acanthocardia paucicostata (G. B. Sowerby II, 1834)

For the species account provided by Marine Bivalves of the British Isles click here.

The UK NBN Atlas entry for the species can be accessed via this link.

Taxon version key
[NBNSYS0000178737]
Sort order
10260
Taxonomic group
Marine bivalve
  • Read more about Acanthocardia paucicostata

Shell up to 40mm long, 40mm high, 30mm wide, somewhat thin-shelled, roundish oval. In older adults the shell is slightly produced posteriorly but there is no keel. Strongly radially ribbed, 16-18 ribs, wide-spaced, with fine straight concentric riblets or striations between and across the ribs. An intermittent fine ridge along the ribs. Spines stumpy, tuberculate, enrolled. Ribs shown as fluting on the inside of the shell, generaly extending througout. Growth lines
usually distinct. Teeth very similar to those of the preceding species. Juveniles similar to the adult.

Abra longicallus

Submitted by Steve Wilkinson on Sat, 05/12/2009 22:15
Distribution and status

A deep water species found, in particular, on the continental margin between 200 - 500m depth (but also at much greater depths). Distributed from the Norwegian Sea to the Iberian Peninsula and into the Mediterranean.

Abra longicallus

The map provided here shows the distribution of the species based on Conchological Society data held by the National Biodiversity Network (NBN). See terms and conditions.

The following datasets are included:

  • Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland: marine mollusc records

Open an NBN Atlas interactive map of this data in a new window.

Ecology and behaviour

Burrows in mud where it feeds on organic detritus picked up through the siphon.

Key identification features
  • Sculpture includes radiating lines (but may be worn away)
References and links

Taxon details available from MolluscaBase (AphiaID: 141434):

Abra longicallus (Scacchi, 1835)

For the species account provided by Marine Bivalves of the British Isles click here.

The UK National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Atlas entry for the species can be accessed via this link.

Taxon version key
[NBNSYS0000178724]
Sort order
10810
Taxonomic group
Marine bivalve
  • Read more about Abra longicallus

Shell up to about 2cm in length. Brittle. White in colour. Sculpture of fine concentric rings and radiating lines (but these may be worn away). Deep pallial sinus which is partially confluent with the pallial line.

Venus verrucosa

Submitted by Steve Wilkinson on Sat, 05/12/2009 22:15
Distribution and status

Not uncommon; locally common.

Found in the English Channel and SW Ireland and south to the Iberian Peninsula and into the Mediterranean.

Ecology and behaviour

Shallow burrower in sand or fine/mixed gravel. Feeds by filtering phytoplankton from the water.

Similar species
  • Circomphalus casina lacks the wart like sculpturing
  • Clausinella fasciata lacks the prominent concentric ridges
Key identification features
  • Prominent concentric ridges on shell surface
  • Wart like spines on outside of shell near the anterior and posterior margins
  • Inner margin of shell crenulate
Taxon version key
[NBNSYS0000178622]
Sort order
10900
Taxonomic group
Marine bivalve
  • Read more about Venus verrucosa

Solid shell up to 6.5 cm long. Plump shell that can be as wide as it is long. Pallial sinus small and triangular. Sculpture strong concentric ridges which are warty especially towards the front margin and the sides. Yellow-brown occasionally with three or four red-brown or purple rays; sometimes broken or zigzag. Inside white but may be stained purple or brown.

Venerupis senegalensis

Submitted by Steve Wilkinson on Sat, 05/12/2009 22:15
Distribution and status

Very common

Recorded from the North of Nroway to the Iberian Peninsula and into the Mediterranean.

Ecology and behaviour

Shallow burrower (up to 5cm deep) in sand or muddy gravel at the base of rcoks or dead shells to which it is generally attached by byssus threads. Feeds by filtering phytoplankton.

Similar species
  • Tapes rhomboides lacks radial lines and tends to be more oblong. Concentric lines are coarser and further apart.
  • Tapes decussatus has much coarser radial lines giving the valves a decussate appearance
Key identification features
  • Pallial sinus partially confluent with the pallial line
  • Sculpture of concentric ridges crossed by delicate lines
Taxon version key
[NBNSYS0000178613]
Sort order
11030
Taxonomic group
Marine bivalve
  • Read more about Venerupis senegalensis

Solid shell up to about 5cm in length. Cream, grey, light brown or yellowish in colour sometimes with rays, streaks or blotches of brown or purple. Sculpture of numerous concentric rings with fine radiating lines. Concentric ribs generally stronger on the posterior area of the shell. Each valve has three cardinal teeth; the centre tooth on the left valve and centre and posterior on the right valve bifid.

Turtonia minuta

Submitted by Steve Wilkinson on Sat, 05/12/2009 22:15
Distribution and status

Common

Occurs from the north of Norway down to the Mediterranean

Ecology and behaviour

Lived attached by byssus threads in crevices on rocky shores. In places densities of 60 000 per cubic metre have been recorded. Feeds by filtering phytoplankton. In reproduction the females produce gelatinous capsules and attach them to their byssus. These capsules contain a few large embryos that develop directly into young bivalves (ie. No larval stage)

Similar species
  • Lasaea adansoni
Key identification features
  • Margin of shell is not crenulated
  • Small shell (up to about 0.3cm)
  • No lateral teeth but three cardinal teeth in each valve
Taxon version key
[NBNSYS0000178537]
Sort order
11060
Taxonomic group
Marine bivalve
  • Read more about Turtonia minuta

Fragile brown shell but quite plump. Sculpture of fine concentric rings. Muscle scars and pallial line weak.

Tridonta montagui

Submitted by Steve Wilkinson on Sat, 05/12/2009 22:15
Key identification features
  • Margin of the shell is smooth
  • Periostracum has irregular radiating rows of pits
Taxon version key
[NBNSYS0000178439]
Sort order
10230
Taxonomic group
Marine bivalve
  • Read more about Tridonta montagui

Solid shell up to 1.5cm in length. The shell is white but obscured by brown periostracum. The surface of the shell is sculptured with concentric ridges.

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