Solemyidae

{{Short description|Family of bivalves}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Solemya velum hand.jpg

| image_caption =

| taxon = Solemyidae

| authority = J. E. Gray, 1840{{cite WoRMS |author=Bouchet, Philippe |year=2014 |title=Solemyidae Gray, 1840 |id=22632 |access-date=2014-02-21|db=}}

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision = See text

}}

Solemyidae is a family of saltwater clams, marine protobranch bivalve mollusks in the order Solemyida.Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand (1979) {{ISBN|0-00-216906-1}}

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.{{cite journal|doi=10.1093/icb/29.3.1133|title=The Unwhole Organism|journal=American Zoologist|volume=29|issue=3|pages=1133–1140|year=1989|last1=Reid|first1=Robert G. B.|doi-access=free}}

It has been shown that these clams host sulphur-oxidizing bacteria intracellularly within their gill filaments. As chemoautotrophs, these bacterial symbionts synthesize organic matter from CO2 and are the primary source of nutrition for the whole organism.{{cite journal|doi=10.1073/pnas.85.20.7786|pmid=16593987|pmc=282278|title=Immunochemical localization of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase in the symbiont-containing gills of Solemya velum (Bivalvia: Mollusca)|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=85|issue=20|pages=7786–7789|year=1988|last1=Cavanaugh|first1=C. M.|last2=Abbott|first2=M. S.|last3=Veenhuis|first3=M.|bibcode=1988PNAS...85.7786C|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s10482-006-9086-6|pmid=17028934|title=Bacterial endosymbioses in Solemya (Mollusca: Bivalvia)—Model systems for studies of symbiont–host adaptation|journal=Antonie van Leeuwenhoek|volume=90|issue=4|pages=343–360|year=2006|last1=Stewart|first1=Frank J.|last2=Cavanaugh|first2=Colleen M.|s2cid=351963}} 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:

References

{{Wikispecies|Solemyidae}}

{{Reflist}}

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Category:Environmental microbiology

Category:Bivalve families

Category:Chemosynthetic symbiosis

Category:Taxa named by John Edward Gray