Superfamily Trigonioidea Subfamily Trigoniinae Rank Genus | Class Bivalve | |
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Similar Trigoniidae, Trigonioidea, Palaeoheterodonta, Trigonia, Unionoidea | ||
Neotrigonia is a genus of living saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Trigoniidae, which otherwise consists only of fossil genera. For a long time the entire family was thought to be long extinct, but a living species that is now placed in this genus was discovered in 1802. At that time it was assigned to the fossil genus Trigonia. Currently, according to WoRMS, 8 species in this genus are recognized.
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Discovery of the genus
Until the beginning of the 19th century, no living species in this superfamily had ever been discovered, although numerous fossil species were known. The superfamily was well known as fossils from the Devonian to the Cretaceous Period. In 1802, however, François Péron discovered a living species in waters off the coast of Tasmania. In 1804, Lamarck named that species Trigonia margaritacea, and Cossmann renamed the genus Neotrigonia in 1912. Today, eight living species are known to exist, all of which are found off the coast of Australia and Tasmania. Neotrigonia probably evolved from Eotrigonia (Eocene to Miocene) during the Miocene epoch.
Species
Species within the genus Neotrigonia include:
Synonym