#bivalve

Tawera is the Māori name for Venus, and it is indeed a Venerid clam. The genus was named by New Zealand paleontologist John Marwick in 1927, and this species by malacologist H. J. Finlay in 1928. Finlay didn't specify who Marion was in the only paper I could dig up - it turns out Marion Ivy Mary Keys was his wife.

Assuming T. marionae is actually a species.

notaspidea on inaturalist told me, as they gave me the ID, that

"In being ovate-trigonal and coarsely sculptured, this valve corresponds with the Tawera morphotype named T. marionae. However, one character that doesn't match is the internal colouration - Tawera marionae is described as dull white internally. So, whether T. marionae is a species or merely a southern form of T. spissa remains to be tested genetically. The drill holes would have been made by the predatory naticid gastropod Tanea zelandica."

"legibility" is one thing, but it needn't be every thing

Chapter heading - 'La période crétacée' [The Cretaceous period] from Camille Flammarion's Le monde avant la création de l'homme (1886)

Today is a shorter post just on Anadara stempelli, a species of marine bivalve delineated just under two years ago on June 28th 2024.

Their description actually comes not from a new collection, but rather researchers critically reviewing old samples. A. stempelli specifically was taken from shells collected back in 1899. While they were originally classified under Arca platei (now called Kamanevus platei), they have significantly more hinge teeth, which are oriented obliquely, not in parallel to the hinge line. The shell is only 1.3 cm long.

They were collected in the Juan Fernández archipelago, which is still their only known area of occurrence. This does make them the first Anadara species found in Chilean waters.

While they may have disagreed with his categorisation of this species, the researchers naming this species still decided to honour Carl Ludwig Walter Stempell, who published the original 1899 work, which was “a foundational work on the Juan Fernández bivalve fauna”.

You found a Wrecklam!

You found an Oystala!

Scallopucci

"The Molluscan Clown: He means no harm, but he's terrifying"