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Bivalve of the Day |
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Adams’ Miniature Ark
Arcopsis adamsi (Dall, 1886)
Family Noetiidae (False Ark Clams)
A group of Arcopsis crowd closely together on the undersurface of a rock from the bayside of Spanish Harbor Key in the Florida Keys. When the rock is turned over, the disturbed individuals voluntarily release their strong byssus threads and crawl away from the light. The blood of Arcopsis adamsi is known to contain hemoglobin. Members of the family Noetiidae are closely related to the true arks (Arcidae), but differ in the structure of the ligament joining their shells. The family is known since the Cretaceous Period, is represented by 13 living genera and ca. 40 species, and is widely distributed in shallow waters.
Evolution on the Half Shell...
The Assembling the Tree of Life: Bivalvia project (BivAToL) is a part of the Assembling the Tree of Life initiative, a large research effort sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Its goal is to reconstruct the evolutionary origins of all living things.
Jetsam & Flotsam
Not only do bivalves vary greatly in size and shape, but they also look different inside. Below is the internal anatomy of 2 species of clams.
[+]In July 2011 at the 77th Annual Meeting of the American Malacological Society, Ilya Temkin presented a paper in the “Cretaceous and Cenozoic Molluscan Paleontology Symposium,” coauthored with Ellen Strong, entitled “Evolution of the alimentary system in heterodont bivalves,” about his excellent anatomical work on bivalve stomachs. Also presenting from our team were Paula Mikkelsen, Dan Graf, and John Pfeiffer. More...
