Limaria orientalis

Taxobox
name = "Limaria orientalis"


status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Bivalvia
subclassis = Pteriomorphia
ordo = Limoida
familia = Limidae
genus = "Limaria"
species = "L. orientalis"
binomial = "Limaria orientalis"
binomial_authority = (Adams and Reeve, 1850)

"Limaria orientalis", or the file shell, is a bivalve mollusc of the family Limidae.

Distribution

The file shell is endemic to Japan, The Philippines, and southern Australia. It was introduced into New Zealand about 1972, although this species has been found in the New Zealand Miocene and Pleistocene.

Habitat

This shell lives protected inside a 'nest' of fine threads under low-tidal rocks or in mud on sheltered shores.

Description

The shell is thin, semitransparent, and moderately inflated. The valves are unequal. Sculpture consists of fine crisp radial riblets numbering about 38 to 43. There are no hinge teeth.

Height is up to 27 mm, width up to 19 mm, and thickness 13 mm.

References

* Powell A. W. B., "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1