Margaritiferidae

Margaritiferidae
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic - present, 170–0 Ma
Separated valves of a shell of Margaritifera margaritifera
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Unionida
Superfamily: Unionoidea
Family: Margaritiferidae
Haas, 1940
Genera

See text for genera

Margaritiferidae is a family of medium-sized freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve molluscs in the order Unionida.[1][2] It is the most threatened of all unionid families.[3]

The family is sometimes referred to as the freshwater pearl mussel family,[4] but "freshwater pearl mussel" more often applies to the species Margaritifera margaritifera.[5][6][7] The name refers to the thick layer of nacre (mother of pearl) lining the interior of the shell of the species, which enables them to produce pearls.

  1. ^ Margaritiferidae Henderson, 1929 (1910). Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 4 January 2012. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
  2. ^ Huber, Markus (2010). Compendium of Bivalves. A Full-color Guide to 3'300 of the World's Marine Bivalves. A Status on Bivalvia after 250 Years of Research. Hackenheim: ConchBooks. pp. 901 pp. + CD. ISBN 978-3-939767-28-2.
  3. ^ Manuel Lopes-Lima; et al. (1 October 2018). "Expansion and systematics redefinition of the most threatened freshwater mussel family, the Margaritiferidae". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 127: 98–118. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.04.041. hdl:1822/72343. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 29729933. S2CID 24130614. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  4. ^ Bolotov, Ivan N.; Bespalaya, Yulia V.; et al. (26 May 2015). Colgan, Donald James (ed.). "Taxonomy and Distribution of Freshwater Pearl Mussels (Unionoida: Margaritiferidae) of the Russian Far East". PLOS ONE. 10 (5). Public Library of Science (PLoS): e0122408. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1022408B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122408. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4444039. PMID 26011762.
  5. ^ Mitchell, Daniel (2010). "Margaritifera margaritifera". Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  6. ^ Popov, Igor (2020). "The impact of publication on freshwater pearl mussel conservation: To conceal or to reveal the location of threatened habitats?". Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. 30 (9). Wiley: 1816–1820. Bibcode:2020ACMFE..30.1816P. doi:10.1002/aqc.3342. ISSN 1052-7613.
  7. ^ Bauer, G. (1987). "Reproductive Strategy of the Freshwater Pearl Mussel Margaritifera margaritifera". Journal of Animal Ecology. 56 (2). Wiley, British Ecological Society: 691–704. Bibcode:1987JAnEc..56..691B. doi:10.2307/5077. ISSN 1365-2656. JSTOR 5077. Retrieved 4 September 2021.