Pterioidea

{{Short description|Superfamily of bivalves}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image =

| image_caption =

| taxon = Pterioidea

| authority = Gray 1840 (1820)

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Pterioidea is a superfamily of epifaunal marine bivalves mostly inhabiting continental shelf regions of tropical and subtropical oceans. The superfamily includes the economically-important saltwater pearl oysters as well as the oddly shaped hammer oysters (neither of which, however, is considered a true oyster). A number of species have found use as model organisms in the fields of medicine and science.{{cite journal

| last =Tëmkin

| first =Ilya

| authorlink =

| title =Molecular phylogeny of pearl oysters and their relatives (mollusca, bivalvia, pterioidea)

| journal =BMC Evolutionary Biology

| volume =10

| issue =342

| pages =1471–2148

| date =2010

| language =

| url= | jstor =

| issn =

| doi =10.1186/1471-2148-10-342

| pmid=21059254

| pmc=3271234

| doi-access =free

| bibcode =2010BMCEE..10..342T

}}

It includes the following three accepted living families:

• Malleidae, the hammer oysters, Lamarck, 1818
• Pteriidae, the pearl oysters, tree oysters, and winged oysters, Gray, 1847 (1820)
• Pulvinitidae, a family of rare deep sea oysters, no common name, Stephenson, 1941

Fossil families include:

• Family †Aviculopectinidae
• Family †Bakevelliidae
• Family †Cassianellidae
• Family †Isognomonidae
• Family †Kochiidae
• Family †Pergamidiidae
• Family †Plicatostylidae
• Family †Posidoniidae
• Family †Pterineidae
• Family †Retroceramidae