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Conchifera

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Conchifera is a subphylum of the phylum Mollusca, containing five extant classes: Monoplacophora, Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, Bivalvia, and Scaphopoda. Conchiferans can bear a single shell as in snails and ammonites, a single pair of shells as in clams, or lack a shell as in slugs and squid. The other subphylum is Aculifera, the members of which are shellless or have a row of several plates. Non-monoplacophoran conchiferans emerged within the once-widespread Monoplacophora. The only descendant which retains its ancestral shape is the Tryblidiida.

Species

CLASS

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumMollusca
  3. ClassBivalvia
Habitatmarine
Observations recorded1

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
271
Collections
NMV, ALMNH
Recorded in
Australia

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Image
Giant clam or Tridacna gigas.jpg
Show 4 more facts
taxon rank
subphylum
taxon name
Conchifera
topic's main category
Category:Conchifera
taxon common name
Schalenweichtiere
Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~1 min read

Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • Classes
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

Conchifera is a subphylum of the phylum Mollusca, containing five extant classes: Monoplacophora, Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, Bivalvia, and Scaphopoda. Conchiferans can bear a single shell as in snails and ammonites, a single pair of shells as in clams, or lack a shell as in slugs and squid. The other subphylum is Aculifera, the members of which are shellless or have a row of several plates. Non-monoplacophoran conchiferans emerged within the once-widespread Monoplacophora. The only descendant which retains its ancestral shape is the Tryblidiida.

The monophyly of Conchifera is supported by molecular phylogenetic analysis. The relationships among the members of Conchifera are disputed. A grouping of Scaphopoda and Bivalvia, named Diasoma, has been proposed, but other studies find scaphopods to be more closely related to cephalopods or gastropods.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Conchifera” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.