The Entoliidae, also referred to as the entoliids, are a

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of saltwater clams,

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

s in the order

Pectinida Pectinida is a taxonomic order of large and medium-sized saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs, commonly known as scallops and their allies. It is believed that they began evolutionarily in the late Middle Ordovician epoch; many species, of c ...

. They are related to and are considered the ancestors of modern

scallop Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families ...

s. In the geological record the family contains at least seven species in five different genera, though only one is extant and it is very rare and cryptic, inhabiting the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and central west

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

in small, disjointed populations. A significant morphological feature lacking in the entoliids but present in modern scallops is the ctenolium, a comb-like structure under the anterior auricle through which scallops are able to produce a

byssal thread A byssus () is a bundle of filaments secreted by many species of bivalve mollusc that function to attach the mollusc to a solid surface. Species from several families of clams have a byssus, including pen shells (Pinnidae), true mussels (Mytilid ...

for attachment to a substrate. The entoliids did not/ do not secrete a byssal thread.

Genera and species

Genera and species within the family Entoliidae include: * '' Entolium'' Meek 1865 ** '' Entolium fossatum'' Marwick 1953 ** '' Entolium utokokense'' Imlay 1961 * ''

Pectinella The Entoliidae, also referred to as the entoliids, are a taxonomic family of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the order Pectinida. They are related to and are considered the ancestors of modern scallops. In the geological record th ...

'' ** ''

Pectinella sigsbeei The Entoliidae, also referred to as the entoliids, are a taxonomic family of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the order Pectinida. They are related to and are considered the ancestors of modern scallops. In the geological record th ...

'' ( Dall, 1886) ** ''

Pectinella aequoris The Entoliidae, also referred to as the entoliids, are a taxonomic family of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the order Pectinida. They are related to and are considered the ancestors of modern scallops. In the geological record the fa ...

'' Dijkstra, 1991 * '' Pernopecten'' Winchell 1865 * '' Somapecten'' * '' Syncyclonema'' Meek 1864 ** '' Syncyclonema travisanus'' Stephenson 1941

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2294881 Bivalve families