''Hysteroconcha dione'' or the elegant Venus clam, formerly known as ''Venus dione'', is a species of bivalve mollusc in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Veneridae The Veneridae or venerids, common name: Venus clams, are a very large family of minute to large, saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs. Over 500 living species of venerid bivalves are known, most of which are edible, and many of which are ex ...

, the Venus clams.MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Hysteroconcha dione (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=507709 on 2022-01-20 The shell is whitish pink, with a row of long curved spines on each valve. The species was named in '' Systema Naturae'' in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

. Both there and in his 1771 ''Fundamenta Testaceologiae'', he described the shell in "disquieting y sexual terms.

Etymology

The species was named in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist

as ''Venus dione'',

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

being the name of the Roman goddess of love, and especially of sex. From the ''Encyclopædia Romana'' by James Grout. The specific epithet ''dione'' is the name of the mother of Venus in Roman mythology. The later generic name ''Hysteroconcha'' is from Greek ''hyster'',

womb The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ut ...

, and Latin ''concha'', shell.

Description

The shells of ''Hysteroconcha dione'' can reach a length of about . The color of the whole shell is very pale or whitish pink, with whitish interior. The anterior end is broadly rounded, while the posterior is lightly sloping. The surface of each valve is characterized by several sharpened concentric and prominent ribs. This rare species is unusual in that it has a double series of long, curved spines on the posterior slope of each valve. A closely related species from the Eastern Pacific is ''

Pitar lupanaria ''Hysteroconcha lupanaria'' is a species of marine bivalve mollusc in the family Veneridae The Veneridae or venerids, common name: Venus clams, are a very large family of minute to large, saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs. Over 500 li ...

''.

Distribution

This species is found in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

, from eastern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

Habitat

This species lives in intertidal zones and moderately shallow waters.Encyclopedia of life
/ref>R. Tucker Abbott, Percy A. Morri
A Field Guide to Shells: Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and the West Indies
/ref>

In human culture: the Venus shell

In his 1758 '' Systema Naturae'', and then in his 1771 ''Fundamenta Testaceologiae'', Linnaeus used a series of "disquieting y sexual terms to describe the shell: ''

vulva The vulva (plural: vulvas or vulvae; derived from Latin for wrapper or covering) consists of the external female sex organs. The vulva includes the mons pubis (or mons veneris), labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, vestibular bulbs, vulv ...

'', '' anus'', ''nates'' (

buttocks The buttocks (singular: buttock) are two rounded portions of the exterior anatomy of most mammals, located on the posterior of the pelvic region. In humans, the buttocks are located between the lower back and the perineum. They are composed ...

), '' pubis'', '' mons veneris'', ''

labia The labia are part of the female genitalia; they are the major externally visible portions of the vulva. In humans, there are two pairs of labia: the ''labia majora'' (or the outer labia) are larger and thicker, while the '' labia minora'' are fo ...

'', ''

hymen The hymen is a thin piece of mucosal tissue that surrounds or partially covers the external vaginal opening. It forms part of the vulva, or external genitalia, and is similar in structure to the vagina. In children, a common appearance of the ...

''. The evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould called Linnaeus's description "one of the most remarkable paragraphs in the history of systematics". Some later naturalists found the terms used by Linnaeus uncomfortable; an 1803 review commented that "a few of these terms however strongly they may be warranted by the similitudes and analogies which they express, ... are not altogether reconcilable with the delicacy proper to be observed in ordinary discourse", while the 1824 ''Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica'' criticised Linnaeus for "indulg ngin obscene allusions." Veneridae - Hysteroconcha dione

Bibliography

* Baron Georges Cuvier, Edward Griffith, and Edward Pidgeon - The Mollusca and Radiata (1834) - The Naturalist's Miscellany: or Coloured Figures of Natural Objects; *

Carl von Linné Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

- ''Fundamenta Testaceologiæ'' (1771) * Eleanor Winsor Leach - "Plautus' Rudens: Venus Born from a Shell" (1974) - Texas Studies in Literature and Language (Special Classics Issue), 15, 915–931. *

Emanuel Mendes da Costa Emanuel Mendes da Costa (5 June 1717 – 31 May 1791) was an English botanist, naturalist, philosopher, and collector of valuable notes and of manuscripts, and of anecdotes of the literati. Da Costa became infamous for embezzling funds while ...

- Elements of Conchology: or, An Introduction to the Knowledge of Shells (1776) * G. S. Rousseau and David Haycock - "The Jew of Crane Court: Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717-91), Natural History and Natural Excess" (2000) - Historical Society, 38, 127–170; *

Geoffrey Cantor Geoffrey N. Cantor (born 1943) is Emeritus Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds and Honorary Senior Research Associate at UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies at University College London. He h ...

- "The Rise and Fall of Emanuel Mendes da Costa: A Severe Case of 'The Philosophical Dropsy'?" (2001) The English Historical Review, 116(467), 584–603; * George Shaw, F. P. Nodder - Drawn and Described Immediately from Nature (1789-1813) * P. J. P. Whitehead - "Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717-91) and the 'Conchology, or Natural History of Shells'" (1977) - Bulletin of the British Museum (Historical Series), 6(1), 1-24; * P. Martin-Kaye - "Sorting of Lamellibranch Valves on Beaches in Trinidad, B.W.I" (1951) - Geological Magazine, 88(66), 432–434; * R. M. Carter - "On the Nature and Definition of the Lunule, Escutcheon and Corcelet in the Bivalvia" (1967) - Journal of Molluscan Studies, 37, 243–263; * Stephen Jay Gould - "The Anatomy Lesson: The Teachings of Naturalist Mendes da Costa, a Sephardic Jew in King George's Court" (1995) - Natural History, 104(12), 10–15, 62–63; * Veronica Carpita, Rainer Willmann, and Sophia Willmann - Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville: Shells (2009) * William George Maton and Rev. Thomas Rackett - "An Historical Account of Testaceological Writers" (1804) - Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 7(1), 119–244;