Solemyidae

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title: "Solemyidae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["solemyidae", "environmental-microbiology", "bivalve-families", "chemosynthetic-symbiosis", "taxa-named-by-john-edward-gray"] description: "Family of bivalves" topic_path: "science/biology" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solemyidae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of bivalves ::

| image = Solemya velum hand.jpg | image_caption = | taxon = Solemyidae | authority = J. E. Gray, 1840 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = See text

Solemyidae is a family of saltwater clams, marine protobranch bivalve mollusks in the order Solemyida.

Biology

Solemyids are remarkable in that their digestive tract is either extremely small or non-existent, and their feeding appendages are too short to reach outside the shell.

It has been shown that these clams host sulphur-oxidizing bacteria intracellularly within their gill filaments. As chemoautotrophs, these bacterial symbionts synthesize organic matter from CO2 and are the primary source of nutrition for the whole organism. In turn, the animal host provides its symbionts a habitat in which they have access to the substrates of chemoautotrophy (O2, CO2, and reduced inorganic compounds such as H2S). Together, these partners create "animals" with novel metabolic capabilities.

Genera and species

The family Solemyidae includes two genera and the following species:

• Acharax Dall, 1908
  • Acharax alinae Métivier & Cosel, 1993
  • Acharax bartschii (Dall, 1908)
  • Acharax caribbaea (Vokes, 1970)
  • Acharax clarificata Dell, 1995
  • Acharax gadirae Oliver, Rodrigues & Cunha, 2011
  • Acharax grandis (Verrill & Bush, 1898)
  • Acharax japonica (Dunker, 1882)
  • Acharax johnsoni (Dall, 1891)
  • Acharax patagonica (E. A. Smith, 1885)
  • Acharax prashadi (Vokes, 1955)
• Solemya Lamarck, 1818
  • Solemya africana Martens, 1880
  • Solemya atacama (Kuznetzov & Schileyko, 1984)
  • Solemya australis Lamarck, 1818
  • Solemya borealis Totten, 1834
  • Solemya elarraichensis Oliver, Rodrigues & Cunha, 2011
  • Solemya flava Sato, Sasaki & Watanabe, 2013
  • Solemya moretonensis Taylor, Glover & Williams, 2008
  • Solemya notialis Simone, 2009
  • Solemya occidentalis Deshayes, 1857
  • Solemya panamensis Dall, 1908
  • Solemya parkinsonii E. A. Smith, 1874
  • Solemya pervernicosa (Kuroda, 1948)
  • Solemya pusilla Gould, 1861
  • Solemya tagiri Okutani, Hashimoto & Miura, 2004
  • Solemya terraereginae Iredale, 1929
  • Solemya togata (Poli, 1791)
  • Solemya valvulus Carpenter, 1864
  • Solemya velesiana Iredale, 1931
  • Solemya velum Say, 1822
  • Solemya winckworthi Prashad, 1932

References

References

1. Bouchet, Philippe. (2014). "Solemyidae Gray, 1840".
2. [[Arthur William Baden Powell. Powell A. W. B.]], ''New Zealand Mollusca'', [[HarperCollins. William Collins Publishers Ltd]], Auckland, New Zealand (1979) {{ISBN. 0-00-216906-1
3. (1989). "The Unwhole Organism". American Zoologist.
4. (1988). "Immunochemical localization of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase in the symbiont-containing gills of Solemya velum (Bivalvia: Mollusca)". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
5. (2006). "Bacterial endosymbioses in Solemya (Mollusca: Bivalvia)—Model systems for studies of symbiont–host adaptation". Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.
6. Bouchet, Philippe. (2014). "''Acharax'' Dall, 1908".
7. Bouchet, Philippe. (2014). "''Solemya'' Lamarck, 1818".

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