The Plicatulidae are a family of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks, known commonly as kitten's paws or kittenpaws.Abbott, R.T. & Morris, P.A. A Field Guide to Shells: Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and the West Indies. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. 34. These bivalves are related to oysters and scallops. The family has a single living genus, Plicatula, with a second, Harpax known from fossils.
Description Plicatulidae are small, with weakly convex shells which are irregularly oval or even almost triangular. Typically, they attach themselves to a hard surface by the right valve. The ligament is internal and triangular.
Life cycle Plicatulidae members start off in the larval stage.
Genera and species All taxa marked † are extinct. Harpax Parkinson, 1811 Plicatula Lamarck, 1801 † Pseudoplacunopsis Bittner, 1895 Plicastulostrea onca: synonym of Plicatula australis Lamarck, 1819 (type by original designation); a species from Thailand Synonyms Plicatulostrea Simone & Amaral, 2008: synonym of Plicatula Lamarck, 1801 Spiniplicata [sic]: synonym of Spiniplicatula Habe, 1977: synonym of Plicatula Lamarck, 1801 (misspelling) Spiniplicatula Habe, 1977: synonym of Plicatula Lamarck, 1801
References
Vaught, K.C.; Tucker Abbott, R.; Boss, K.J. (1989). A classification of the living Mollusca. American Malacologists: Melbourne. ISBN 0-915826-22-4. XII, 195 pp Bieler, R.; Carter, J. G.; Coan, E. V. (2010). Classification of Bivalve families. Pp. 113-133, in: Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (2010), Nomenclator of Bivalve Families. Malacologia. 52(2): 1-184 Coan, E. V.; Valentich-Scott, P. (2012). Bivalve seashells of tropical West America. Marine bivalve mollusks from Baja California to northern Peru. 2 vols, 1258 pp.
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