Panopea abbreviata (Bivalvia: Hitellidae) in the southwestern Atlantic ocean, taxonomic revision and anatomy

Abstract

The taxonomy and anatomy of the southwestern Atlantic geoduck, Panopea abbreviata Valenciennes, 1839, are revised. Materials from several institutions, as well as new living specimens collected from the coast of Argentina were studied. Type materials of all related nominal species are illustrated. The shell morphology, shell ultrastructure, hinge, ligamentand mantle cavity organs are described. The symbiotic relationship with the nemertean Malacobdella arrokeana, attached to host mantle tissues, is mentioned. Panopea abbreviata is abundant in the gulfs of northern Patagonia. It occurs in the subtidal zone from 8 to 25 meters deep, deeply buried in the sediment. It has a large thick shell, shortener at the posterior end, with exposed siphons covered by a dark brownish periostracum; a hinge plate characterized by a single cardinal tooth in each valve; and shell ultrastructure with three layers: an outerlayer of nearly vertical and composite prisms, a middle, true homogeneous layer, and an inner layer of alternating sublayers of fine complex crossed lamellar and irregular simple prisms. The fused mantle is only interrupted in the pedal gape. Ctenidia and labial palps associationbelongs to the Category III and ctenidia type C(1). Panopea antarctica is its only synonym. The fossil taxa Panopea truncata, P. inferior, P. hauthali, P. coquimbensis and P. guayacanensis are excluded from the synonymy.