This book identifies all valid species belonging to the superfamily Mactroidea living in American waters, distributed across fourteen biogeographical provinces. It also provides an updated classification of the widely occurring Mactroidea superfamily, which comprises eight subfamilies grouped into four families: Mactridae (Lamarck, 1809); Anatinellidae (Deshayes, J.Gray 1853); Cardiliidae (Fischer, 1887) and Mesodesmatidae (J. Gray, 1840). The species included in this superfamily are known to have existed in North America since the Early Cretaceous.

Table of contents :
Introduction to the Superfamily (Javier H. Signorelli)....Pages 1-7
The Subfamily Mactrinae (Mollusca: Bivalvia), Part 1 (Javier H. Signorelli)....Pages 9-38
The Subfamily Mactrinae (Mollusca: Bivalvia), Part 2 (Javier H. Signorelli)....Pages 39-73
The Subfamilies Lutrariinae and Darininae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) (Javier H. Signorelli)....Pages 75-83
The Family Anatinellidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) (Javier H. Signorelli)....Pages 85-92
The Family Mesodesmatidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) (Javier H. Signorelli)....Pages 93-101
Back Matter ....Pages 103-151