The Corbiculidae are a family of

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two she ...

s in the

mollusc 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 esti ...

order

Venerida Venerida (formerly Veneroida) is an order of mostly saltwater but also some freshwater bivalve molluscs. This order includes many familiar groups such as many clams that are valued for food and a number of freshwater bivalves. Since the 2000s, t ...

. They are known commonly as basket clams. The family name comes from the root ''corbus'' ("basket"), and was inspired by the concentric ribbing of the shells.Glaubrecht, M., et al. (2007)
Inventorizing an invader: Annotated type catalogue of Corbiculidae Gray, 1847 (Bivalvia, Heterodonta, Veneroidea), including Old World limnic ''Corbicula'' in the Natural History Museum Berlin 1.
''Malacologia'' 49(2), 243-72. Clams in this family release many juveniles into the surrounding waters that have hatched inside the clams (

ovoviviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a term used as a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop insi ...

). Fertilization is internal. The juveniles are much smaller than those of the related family

Sphaeriidae Sphaeriidae is a family of small to minute freshwater bivalve molluscs in the order Sphaeriida. In the US, they are commonly known as pea clams or fingernail clams. Heard, William H. 1977. Reproduction of fingernail clams (Sphaeriidae: ''Sphaeri ...

. ''

Corbicula fluminea ''Corbicula fluminea'' is a species of freshwater clam native to eastern Asia which has become a successful invasive species throughout North America, South America, and Europe. ''Corbicula fluminea'' is commonly known in the west as the Asian cl ...

'', known commonly as the Asian or Asiatic clam, is an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

in many parts of the world.

Genera

* ''

Corbicula ''Corbicula'' is a genus of freshwater and brackish water clams, Aquatic animal, aquatic bivalve mollusks in the family Cyrenidae, the basket clams.Gofas, S. (2015). Cyrenidae Gray, 1847. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Registe ...

'' Megerle von Mühlfeld, 1811 (central and southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, Central and southern Asia) * '' Geloina'' (southern Asia with

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

) * '' Cyrenodonax'' (southern China,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

) * '' Cyrenobatissa'' (northern Vietnam) * '' Batissa'' (Malaysia and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

) * '' Corbiculina'' (eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

) * '' Solielletia'' (

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

) * '' Polymesoda''

Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; October 22, 1783September 18, 1840) was a French 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ultimat ...

, 1820 (Gulf coast, and Atlantic coast of northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

) * '' Neocorbicula'' Fischer, 1887 (Gulf coast, and Atlantic coast of northern South America) * '' Pseudocyrena'' (Caribbean side of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

) * '' Egetaria'' (Atlantic coast of South America) * '' Villorita'' (eastern parts of South America)

References

{{Authority control Bivalve families Obsolete animal taxa Taxa named by John Edward Gray