Solemyidae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of saltwater clams, marine protobranch

bivalve Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

s in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Solemyida.

Biology

Solemyids are remarkable in that their digestive tract is either extremely small or non-existent, and their feeding appendages are too short to reach outside the shell. It has been shown that these clams host

sulphur Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...

oxidizing Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is ...

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

intracellularly within their

gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

filaments. As chemoautotrophs, these bacterial symbionts synthesize organic matter from CO₂ and are the primary source of nutrition for the whole organism. In turn, the animal host provides its symbionts a habitat in which they have access to the substrates of chemoautotrophy (O₂, CO₂, and reduced inorganic compounds such as H₂S). Together, these partners create "animals" with novel metabolic capabilities.

Genera and species

The family Solemyidae includes two genera and the following species: * '' Acharax'' Dall, 1908 ** '' Acharax alinae'' Métivier & Cosel, 1993 ** '' Acharax bartschii'' (Dall, 1908) ** '' Acharax caribbaea'' (Vokes, 1970) ** '' Acharax clarificata'' Dell, 1995 ** '' Acharax gadirae'' Oliver, Rodrigues & Cunha, 2011 ** '' Acharax grandis'' (Verrill & Bush, 1898) ** '' Acharax japonica'' (Dunker, 1882) ** '' Acharax johnsoni'' (Dall, 1891) ** '' Acharax patagonica'' (E. A. Smith, 1885) ** '' Acharax prashadi'' (Vokes, 1955) * '' Solemya''

Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolo ...

, 1818 ** '' Solemya africana'' Martens, 1880 ** '' Solemya atacama'' (Kuznetzov & Schileyko, 1984) ** '' Solemya australis'' Lamarck, 1818 ** ''

Solemya borealis ''Solemya borealis'' , the boreal awning clam, is a species of saltwater clam, a Marine (ocean), marine bivalve mollusc in the family (biology), family Solemyidae the awning clams. This species is found along the northeastern coast of North Ameri ...

'' Totten, 1834 ** '' Solemya elarraichensis'' Oliver, Rodrigues & Cunha, 2011 ** '' Solemya flava'' Sato, Sasaki & Watanabe, 2013 ** '' Solemya moretonensis'' Taylor, Glover & Williams, 2008 ** '' Solemya notialis'' Simone, 2009 ** '' Solemya occidentalis'' Deshayes, 1857 ** '' Solemya panamensis'' Dall, 1908 ** '' Solemya parkinsonii'' E. A. Smith, 1874 ** '' Solemya pervernicosa'' (Kuroda, 1948) ** '' Solemya pusilla'' Gould, 1861 ** '' Solemya tagiri'' Okutani, Hashimoto & Miura, 2004 ** '' Solemya terraereginae'' Iredale, 1929 ** '' Solemya togata'' (Poli, 1791) ** '' Solemya valvulus'' Carpenter, 1864 ** '' Solemya velesiana'' Iredale, 1931 ** '' Solemya velum'' Say, 1822 ** '' Solemya winckworthi'' Prashad, 1932

References

{{Authority control Environmental microbiology Bivalve families Chemosynthetic symbiosis Taxa named by John Edward Gray