TELLINIDAE
tellins

  Psammotreta praerupta
(Salisbury, 1934)

Relevant Synonyms
Tellina dubia Deshayes
Pseudometis praerupta (Salisbury, 1934)

Misidentification
-

 photo: W. Engl / Coll. D. Çeviker    

SHORT DESCRIPTION
Shell almost equivalve with lv slightly flatter. Outline subovate - subtruncate. Inequilateral, umbo at the posterior 1/3 of the valve. Anterior margin rounded; posterior margin narrow, subtruncate, flexous. Sculpture of concentric lines and very faint radial striations most visible on rv. Ligament external but obsolete. Hinge with 2 cardinal teeth in each valve, left posterior becoming obsolete. No lateral teeth. Pallial sinus extending to the middle of the shell.

color : white rather porcellanous, periostracum straw colored.

common size : to 50 mm in length.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
Externally resembles Abra from which it differs in having more solid shell, different ornamentation of shell and distinctly different dentation.

BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY
Infaunal siphonate, unattached animals: the genus comprises surface deposit feeders, burrowing actively into the sediment in muddy and sandy substrata.

habitat : muddy sands in shallow water; dredged from 120-180 m muddy substrata.


1st Mediterranean record
Southern Turkey, 1999 [1992].


DISTRIBUTION
Worldwide: original distribution in the Indo-Pacific including Red Sea; recorded in the Suez Canal (Hoenselaar and Dekker, 1998). Mediterranean: only one record in 1992, off Adana, southern Turkey (Engl and Çeviker, 1999).

ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS
Rare; record based on four valves.

speculated reasons for success :
-


MODE OF INTRODUCTION
Unknown.


IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS
None.


KEY REFERENCES

  • Engl W. and Çeviker D., 1999. New migrant species from southeast Turkey Psammotreta praerupta (Salisbury, 1934) and Antigona lamellaris Schumacher, 1817. La Conchiglia, 290: 17-20.
  • Oliver P.G., 1992. Bivalved seashells of the Red Sea. Christa Hemmen, Wiesbaden and National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 330 p.

 

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Last update : January 2005

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