Molluscan ResearchISSN 1323-5818
 An international journal of the Malacological Society of Australasia and 
the Society for the Study of Molluscan Diversity published by Magnolia Press

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Molluscan Research 30(3): 143-153; published 30 Nov. 2010
Copyright © The Malacological Society of Australasia & the Society for the Study of Molluscan Diversity

Two new species of Lentidium (Myida: Corbulidae) from tropical northern Australia: remarkable fresh/fluviatile to brackish-water bivalves

ANDERS HALLAN1 & RICHARD C. WILLAN2

1 GeoQuest Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia; Email: ah664@uow.edu.au (corresponding author)

2 Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, GPO Box 4646, Darwin, Northern Territory 0801, Australia.

Email: richard.willan@nt.gov.au

Abstract

Lentidium, sole genus in the subfamily Lentidiinae of the Corbulidae, is remarkable because of its active lifestyle, strong foot and thin shell, as well as being far more equivalve and equilateral than the majority of species within the family. Lentidium is presently known by the extant Euasian species Lentidium mediterraneum (O.G. Costa, 1823) in addition to four fossil species. Two new extant species from tropical northern Australia are described, of which L. origolacus n. sp. has an extensive fossil record, particularly in non-marine phases of the Gulf of Carpentaria basin through most of the last Interglacial period (from approx. 130,000 years) to the present time. The other, L. dalyfluvialis n. sp., appears to be restricted to the Daly River in the Northern Territory. Both species are extremely abundant in certain fluviatile/lacustrine habitats. Aspects of the ecology of each species are discussed. L. dalyfluvialis, though normally infaunal and endobyssate, is capable of rapid movement and active burrowing. Such behaviour, while highly unusual for the family, is presumably necessary for survival in major rivers prone to sudden flooding during the monsoon season.

Key words: Taxonomy, Gulf of Carpentaria, Daly River, lacustrine, Bivalvia, Myoidea

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