Nucinellidae

{{Short description|Family of bivalves}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range =

| image = Nucinella dalli (from Hedley, 1902).png

| image_caption = Nucinella dalliHedley C. (1902). "Scientific results of the trawling expedition of H. M. C. S. “Thetis”, of the coast if New South Wales. Molluscs. Part I". Australian Museum Memoirs 4 (5): 287–324.

| taxon = Nucinellidae

| authority = HE Vokes, 1956

}}

Nucinellidae is a family of bivalves, in the order Solemyida. Its species are small and principally reside in deep-water environments. The species' average length is less than {{convert|5|mm|in}}, the largest species being Nucinella boucheti (La Perna, 2005) at a length of {{convert|25|mm|in}}. The family's characteristic features include large gills and reduced palps and their appendages;{{cite book|author=Norman Dennis Newell|title=Bivalves: an eon of evolution : paleobiological studies honoring Norman D. Newell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mr4TAQAAIAAJ|year=1998|publisher=University of Calgary Press|isbn=978-1-55238-005-5}} oval shells with few hinge teeth; they possess a single adductor muscle and one divided foot exhibiting papillae.{{cite book|author=Steffen Kiel|title=The Vent and Seep Biota: Aspects from Microbes to Ecosystems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wxh_thTHZXMC&pg=PA112|date=21 September 2010|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-90-481-9572-5|pages=112–}} The family contains two known genera: Huxleyia and Nucinella. Speaking of Nucinella, the genus' ligament system is of the simple arched type, lacking nymphae. Regarding the former, the system is "submerged" beneath its dorsal margin.{{cite book|author=Brian Morton|title=Asian Marine Biology 7 (1990)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtP33aGX5egC&pg=PA61|date=1 April 1991|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|isbn=978-962-209-273-0|pages=61–}}