MolluscaBase - Spisula subtruncata (da Costa, 1778)

(of Trigonella subtruncata da Costa, 1778) Da Costa, E. M. (1778). Historia naturalis testaceorum Britanniæ, or, the British conchology; containing the descriptions and other particulars of natural history of the shells of Great Britain and Ireland: illustrated with figures. In English and French. - Historia naturalis testaceorum Britanniæ, ou, la conchologie Britannique; contenant les descriptions & autres particularités d'histoire naturelle des coquilles de la Grande Bretagne & de l'Irlande: avec figures en taille douce. En anglois & françois. i-xii, 1-254, i-vii, [1], Pl. I-XVII. London. (Millan, White, Emsley & Robson). , available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13116783
page(s): 198-199 [details]

Descriptive notes

Description A solid shell with a more or less triangular shape but assymmetrical: the back is somewhat more
rounded than the front. A...

Description A solid shell with a more or less triangular shape but assymmetrical: the back is somewhat more
rounded than the front. A sculpture of fine concentric lines and grooves cover the shell. The growth
lines are clearly visible. Measures up to 30 mm long. Fresh specimens are cream-coloured or yellowish white with a dun epidermis. [details]

Distribution The distribution area of Spisula subtruncata stretches across the entire Belgian part of the North Sea. In the 1994-2001...

Distribution The distribution area of Spisula subtruncata stretches across the entire Belgian part of the North Sea. In the 1994-2001 period, however, a preference for the near-coastal zone could be observed. Very high concentrations (up to 1,300 ind./m2) were especially observed near the western near-coastal zone. [details]

Taxonomic citation

MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Spisula subtruncata (da Costa, 1778). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=140302 on 2025-03-31

Taxonomic edit history

Date

action

2004-12-21 15:54:05Z

created

Gofas, Serge

Licensing

The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

[taxonomic tree]

Nomenclature

original description (of Mactra deltoides Lamarck, 1818) Lamarck, [J.-B. M.] de. (1818). Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres. Tome cinquième, 612 pp. Paris, Deterville/Verdière. , available online at http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12886879 [details]

original description (of Mactra euxinica Krynicki, 1837) Krynicki, J. A. (1837). Conchylia tam terrestria, quam fluviatilia et e maribus adjacentibus Imperii Rossici indigena, quae pro mutua offeruntur historiae naturalis cultoribus. Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou. 10 (2): 50-64. Moskva., available online at http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41311962
page(s): 63 [details]

original description (of Mactra lactea Poli, 1791) Poli J.X. (1791). Testacea utriusque Siciliae eorumque historia et anatome tabulis aeneis illustrata. Ex Regio Typographeio, Parmae. Vol. 1: pp. i-lxxiii, [1-6], i-x, 1-90, 1-50, [1], 1-74, pls 1-18. , available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44019471 [details]

original description (of Mactra striata T. Brown, 1827) Brown, T. (1827). Illustrations of the conchology of Great Britain and Ireland. Drawn from nature. W.H. Lizars and D. Lizars, Edinburgh and S. Highley, London. 144 pp., 52 pls., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127868 [details]

original description (of Mactra triangula Brocchi, 1814) Brocchi, G. B. (1814). Conchiologia fossile subapennina con osservazioni geologiche sugli Apennini e sul suolo adiacente. Tomo primo. pp. 1-56, I-LXXV, 1-240. Milano, Stamperia Reale., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12001697 [details]

original description (of Trigonella subtruncata da Costa, 1778) Da Costa, E. M. (1778). Historia naturalis testaceorum Britanniæ, or, the British conchology; containing the descriptions and other particulars of natural history of the shells of Great Britain and Ireland: illustrated with figures. In English and French. - Historia naturalis testaceorum Britanniæ, ou, la conchologie Britannique; contenant les descriptions & autres particularités d'histoire naturelle des coquilles de la Grande Bretagne & de l'Irlande: avec figures en taille douce. En anglois & françois. i-xii, 1-254, i-vii, [1], Pl. I-XVII. London. (Millan, White, Emsley & Robson). , available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13116783
page(s): 198-199 [details]

original description (of Mactra subtruncata var. inaequalis Jeffreys, 1864) Jeffreys, J. G. (1862-1869). British conchology. Vol. 1: pp. cxiv + 341 [1862]. Vol. 2: pp. 479 [1864]. Vol. 3: pp. 394 [1865]. Vol. 4: pp. 487 [1867]. Vol. 5: pp. 259 [1869]. London, van Voorst. , available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/55187
page(s): 420 [details]

original description (of Mactra subtruncata var. tenuis Jeffreys, 1864) Jeffreys, J. G. (1862-1869). British conchology. Vol. 1: pp. cxiv + 341 [1862]. Vol. 2: pp. 479 [1864]. Vol. 3: pp. 394 [1865]. Vol. 4: pp. 487 [1867]. Vol. 5: pp. 259 [1869]. London, van Voorst. , available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/55187
page(s): 420 [details]

original description (of Mactra subtruncata var. transversa Pallary, 1902) Pallary, P. (1902). Liste des mollusques testacés de la baie de Tanger. Journal de Conchyliologie. 50: 1-39, pl. 1., available online at http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16318852
page(s): 35 [details]

original description (of Mactra subtruncata var. conemenosi Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, 1896) Bucquoy, E.; Dautzenberg, P.; Dollfus, G. (1887-1898). Les mollusques marins du Roussillon. Tome II. Pélécypodes. Paris, J.B. Baillière & fils; 884 p., 99 pl. [pp. 1-24, pl. 1-6, 1887; pp. 25-60, pl. 7-11, 1888; pp. 61-112, pl. 12-21, 1889; pp. 113-172, pl. 22-29, 1890; pp. 173-220, pl. 30-37, 1891; pp. 221-320, pl. 38-51, 1892; pp. 321-450, pl. 52-67, 1893; pp. 453-540, pl. 68-70, 1895; pp. 541-620, pl. 79-88, 1896; pp. 621-884, pl. 89-99, 1898]., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/58552309
page(s): 565 [details]

original description (of Spisula hartingi Spaink, 1958) Spaink, G. (1958). Spisula hartingi nov. spec., a new bivalve from the Eemian in the Netherlands. Basteria. 22(1): 15-17., available online at https://natuurtijdschriften.nl/pub/596379/BAST1958022001003.pdf [details]

basis of record Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca. in: Costello, M.J. et al. (eds), European Register of Marine Species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Patrimoines Naturels. 50: 180-213., available online at http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/ocrd/254404.pdf [details]

Identification resource

identification resource Cosel, R. von; Gofas, S. (2019). Marine bivalves of tropical West Africa: from Rio de Oro to southern Angola. Publications Scientifiques du Muséum, Paris, IRD Éditions, Marseille (Faune et Flore tropicales, volume 48): 1-1104.
page(s): 774-775 [details]

Other

context source (Schelde) Maris, T., O. Beauchard, S. Van Damme, E. Van den Bergh, S. Wijnhoven & P. Meire. (2013). Referentiematrices en Ecotoopoppervlaktes Annex bij de Evaluatiemethodiek Schelde-estuarium Studie naar “Ecotoopoppervlaktes en intactness index”. [Reference matrices and Ecotope areas Annex to the Evaluation methodology Scheldt estuary Study on “Ecotope areas and intactness index”. Monitor Taskforce Publication Series, 2013-01. NIOZ: Yerseke. 35 pp. (look up in IMIS) [details]

context source (BeRMS 2020) Bio-environmental research group; Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries research (ILVO), Belgium; (2015): Epibenthos and demersal fish monitoring data in function of wind energy development in the Belgian part of the North Sea. [details]

additional source Huber, M. (2010). Compendium of bivalves. A full-color guide to 3,300 of the world's marine bivalves. A status on Bivalvia after 250 years of research. Hackenheim: ConchBooks. 901 pp., 1 CD-ROM. (look up in IMIS) [details]

Present

Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio

Inaccurate

Introduced: alien

Containing type locality

Unreviewed

Biology This species probably spawns in winter and early spring. The pelagic larval stage seems to last fairly long. S. subtruncata is a suspension feeder and forms an important food item for diving birds like the Common Scooter that overwinter along the Dutch coast (Ziegelmeier, 1957; Wolff, 1973). [details]

Habitat S. subtruncata lives in bottoms consisting of sand and muddy fine sand (Ziegelmeier, 1957; Tebble, 1966). [details]

Habitat Spisula subtruncata occurs in different sediment types: from very fine to coarse sand and from low to high mud content. However, a preference can be observed for rather fine-grained sediments (median grain size 150-250 μm) enriched with mud (mud content of 10-40%). Spisula subtruncata is present in 60% of these sediment types. [details]

Morphology A solid shell, somewhat triangular in outline with rounded corners. Large specimens reach 25 mm in length. A sculpture of fine concentric lines and grooves covers the shell. The growth stages are clear. It is dirty white in colour, with a greenish or greyish brown periostracum. The inside of the shell is white (Tebble, 1966; Wolff, 1973; Hayward & Ryland, 1990) [details]

Definitions

Language	Name
Danish	hvælvet trugmusling	[details]
Dutch	halfgeknotte strandschelp	[details]
English	subtruncate surf clamcut trough shellcut surfclam	[details]
French	spisule tronquéedouceron triangulaire	[details]
German	Stumpfe Trogmuschelgedrungene TrogmuschelDreieckige Trogmuschel	[details]
Modern Greek (1453-)	ΠετσινάκιΑχιβαδάκι	[details]