Zenatia acinaces

Taxobox
name = "Zenatia acinaces"
fossil_range = Lower Pliocene to Recent


regnum = Animalia
subregnum = Metazoa
branch = Bilateria
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Bivalvia
subclassis = Heterodonta
ordo = Mactroidea
familia = Mactridae
genus = "Zenatia"
species = "Z. acinaces"
binomial = "Zenatia acinaces"
binomial_authority = (Quoy and Gaimard, 1835)
synonyms = "Lutraria acinaces" Quoy and Gaimard, 1835
"Zenatia zelandica" Gray, 1853
"Lutraria deshayesi" Reeve, 1854

"Zenatia acinaces" is a species of moderately large marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mactridae.

Distribution

"Zenatia acinaces" is endemic to New Zealand, where it is found around the North and South Islands.

Habitat

"Zenatia acinaces" is found off sandy beaches in shallow water to depths of about 55 m.

Description

The shell is large, thin, elongate-oval, with nearly parallel dorsal and ventral margins. The ends are rounded, and there is very little inflation. The beaks are at about one fifth the length of the shell.

Coloration is white under a yellowish-brown periostracum.

Height is up to 48 mm, length up to 101 mm, and thickness up to 17 mm.

References

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