MUSSEL

Mussel of the Month

The July 2007 Mussel of the Month is Chamberlainia hainesiana. Chamberlaindia is a genus of two species known from Thailand and Laos in Indochina.

Chamberlainia hainesiana
AMNH 31070. Siam. ex. William A. Haines Collection. (type)

The genus is of some economic importance because of its utility to the pearl industry. However, from a taxonomic/systematic standpoint, we don't really have too much to say about Chamberlainia. From Brandt (1974), we know that C. hainesiana has unhooked glochidia, and thus it can only be placed in the poorly-known hodge-podge of species and genera that seem to form a grade at the base of the Unionidae branch.

Classification:

Phylum Mollusca
Class Bivalvia
Subclass Palaeoheterodonta
Order Unionoida

Superfamily UNIONOIDEA Rafinesque, 1820

Family UNIONIDAE s.s.

Genus Chamberlainia Simpson, 1900

Species Chamberlainia hainesiana (Lea, 1856)

For more information about Chamberlainia, check out:
  • Haas, F. 1969. Superfamilia Unionacea. Das Tierreich (Berlin) 88: 663 pp.
  • Brandt, R.A.M. 1974. The non-marine aquatic Mollusca of Thailand. Archiv für Molluskenkunde 105: 423 pp.
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Page last updated 2 July 2007.