Ruditapes philippinarum
(Adams & Reeve, 1850)
W. Bering to SE. Asia, to California, Hawaii. N. Atlantic to Caribbean, to Mediterranean. Also South Africa. Suspension feeder in soft sediments, from intertidal down to 20m deep.
Original taxon: Venus philippinarum.
Above: live specimen in a fish market of Oakland, Alameda County, California. Notice the coloured siphons; they are whitish in decussatus. Original picture provided by T. Iwane for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC).
Shell rounded, more globose than decussatus, thicker, heavier; sculpture made up of less numerous and more marked radial striae, crossed by fewer concentric ribs; pallial sinus less deep, and rounder. – Above: a specimen with the siphons retracted, from Port-leucate, Occitania, S. France. Original picture provided by A. Bertrand (FR) – (CC BY-NC-SA).
Synonyms: indica, japonica, semidecussatus, tessellata…
Specimen from eastern Siberia: at low tide, on muddy sand, Aniwa bay, S. Sakhalin. 37mm.
Pair dredged at 5-8m deep on mud, Gulf of Morbihan, S. Brittany, NW. France. 50-51mm.
Same spot, 74mm.
In sand at low tide near the Roc'h Vran, off the dunes of Ker Emma, Plouescat, NW. Brittany. 56mm.
At low tide, on muddy sand, Cheirrueix, Mount Saint-Michael Bay, NE. Brittany. 60mm.
Intertidal on sand, 100m off the pool, Bon Secours beach, Saint-Malo, N. Brittany. 31-36mm.
On shallow sand, Nordkoster, Koster Islands, Strömstad, Västra Gätaland, SW. Sweden. 33,5mm.
Venus philippinarum and Venus tessellata in Adams & Reeve: Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang, London 1850, via BHL.
 
« Venus philippinarum: Pl. XXII. Fig. 10. — Testâ oblongo-ovatâ, anticè truncatâ, fulvâ, fusco variegatâ, obscurè radiatâ, radiatim liratâ, liris numerosis, subundatis, ad latera decussatim nodulosis ; intus partim violaceâ. »

« Venus tessellata: Pl. XXII. Fig. 11. — Testâ oblongo-ovatâ, anticè truncatâ, crassiusculâ, fusco alboque strigatâ et tessellatâ, radiatim multiliratâ, transversim tenuissimè striatâ, lunulâ lanceolato-ovatâ. »
The hinge in the genus Ruditapes.
Saint-Quay-Portrieux, N. Brittany. 58mm.

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