Sphaerium (Musculium) problematicum (Gabriel, 1939)

Diagnostic features

This species differs from other Musculium species by their elongate shell outline however because the shape of the muscle scars and ligament resemble Sphaerinova Korniusin (2000) suggested that there was a possibility that M. problematicum may just be a local form of S. tasmanicum (Korniushin, 2000).

Classification

Sphaerium (Musculium)  problematicum Gabriel, 1939

Common name: Pea shell, pea clam, pill clam

Class Bivalvia

Infraclass Heteroconchia

Cohort Heterodonta

Megaorder Neoheterodontei

Order Sphaeriida

Superfamily Sphaerioidea

Family Sphaeriidae

Subfamily Sphaeriinae

Genus Sphaerium Scopoli, 1777

Type species: Tellina cornea Linnaeus, 1758. Europe.

Subgenus Musculium Link, 1807

Original name: Sphaerium problematicum Gabriel, 1939. In Gabriel, C. J. (1939). The Freshwater Mollusca of Victoria. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria 11: 100-139.

Type locality: Murray River, Merbein, Victoria.

Biology and ecology

Shallow burrower in sand/mud in river. Suspension and deposit feeder, larvae brooded.

Distribution

Murray River, Merbein, Victoria.

Further reading

Beesley, P. L., Ross, G. J. B. & Wells, A., Eds. (1998). Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Parts A & B. Melbourne, CSIRO Publishing.

Heard, W. H. (1977). Reproduction of fingernail clam (Sphaeriidae: Sphaerium and Musculium). Malacologia 16: 421–455.

Korniushin, A. V. (2000). Review of the family Sphaeriidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) of Australia, with the description of four new species. Records of the Australian Museum 52: 41-102.

Kuiper, J. G. J. (1983). The Sphaeriidae of Australia. Basteria 47: 3-52.

Lamprell, K. & Healy, J. (1998). Bivalves of Australia, volume 2. Leiden, Backhuys Publishers.

Lee, T. (2019). Sphaeriidae Deshayes, 1855 (1820). Pp. 197-201 in C. Lydeard & Cummings, K. S. Freshwater Mollusks of the World: a Distribution Atlas. Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press.

Lee, T. & Ó Foighil, D. (2003). Phylogenetic structure of the Sphaeriinae, a global clade of freshwater bivalve molluscs, inferred from nuclear (ITS-1) and mitochondrial (16S) ribosomal gene sequences. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 137: 245-260.

Smith, B. J. & Kershaw, R. C. (1979). Field guide to the non-marine Molluscs of South-eastern Australia. Canberra, A.N.U. Press.

Smith, B. J. & Kershaw, R. C. (1981). Tasmanian Land and Freshwater Molluscs. Hobart, University of Tasmania.