Lepidolucina, Glover & Taylor, 2007

Genus Lepidolucina View in CoL n. gen.

TYPE SPECIES. — Lucina venusta Philippi, 1847 (here designated).

ETYMOLOGY. — Greek lepidos, scale, a reference to the fine, scale-like sculpture.

INCLUDED SPECIES. — L.venusta ( Philippi, 1847) n. comb., L. odontotis ( Salisbury, 1934) n. comb., L. belepina n. sp.

DIAGNOSIS. — Medium sized, subcircular, inflated, sculpture of around 50-60 closely spaced radial ribs, that are wider in the anterior and posterior sectors of the shell, ribs bear closely spaced, dorsally inclined, semicircular or arcuate scales. Hinge with one or two small cardinal teeth and very small (pimple-like) anterior and posterior lateral teeth.Anterior adductor muscle scar medium-long,detached from pallial line at angle of around 25°. Interior margin of shells serrate with superimposed fine denticulations.

REMARKS

A similar genus is Lucinisca Dall, 1901 (type species Lucina nassula Conrad, 1846 ) with species in the western Atlantic and tropical Eastern Pacific, to which L. venusta n. comb. has often been referred ( Chavan 1937). Species of Lucinisca can be distinguished from Lepidolucina n. gen. by the large anterior and posterior lateral teeth, the shell sculpture that, in L. nassula , consists of fine radial ribs crossed by widely spaced, thin, commarginal lamellae, with scales forming at their intersection.