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CARDITIDAE CARDITINAE |
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Purpurocardia amabilis (Deshayes, 1854) Description: Shape well inflated, umbo in front of midline. Anterior dorsal margin slightly concave, posterior dorsal margin straight, margin otherwise smoothly rounded. Lunule large, well-defined, heart-shaped. Exterior with about 25, erect, close radial ribs, densely scaled. Interior with muscle scars well defined, pallial line continuous; margin coarsely crenulate. Hinge strong, with long slender blade-shaped lateral tooth in left valve and matching slotted lateral in right valve. Ligament short, external. Shell colour white with brown sections consisting of spots and blotches on radial ribs; periostracum fawn. Interior white. Size: Up to 21 mm in height. Distribution: Southern Qld southwards and around southern Australia to south-western WA. Habitat: Subtidal, down to 300 m depth. Occasional found in beach washup in southern NSW. Synonymy: Cardita cavatica Hedley, 1902 is a synonym (NEW SYNONYM). Remarks: When Deshayes named this species in 1854, he gave the locality as New Zealand, but subsequent authors have considered it to be an Australian species. The specimen Deshayes based his name on came from the Hugh Cuming collection, in which material was often mislocalised. This species is variable in ratio of height to width, and because of this, allied with the lack of type specimens for comparison, it has been renamed in each state. In NSW, it was named Cardita cavatica Hedley, 1902. In Victoria it was called Cardita bimaculata Deshayes, 1854. In South Australia, Venericardia gemmulifera Tate, 1892 was used as well as Cardita bimaculata Deshayes, 1854. In Tasmania the name used was Cardita beddomei E.A. Smith, 1885, based on specimens from Bass Strait. All of bimaculata Deshayes, 1854, gemmulifera Tate, 1892 and beddomi E.A. Smith, 1885 are previously recognised synonyms. Fig. 1: Twofold Bay, NSW in 18-27 m depth (C.362748). |
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