top of page


 

Posted: Oct 21 2007

 Lima caribaea d’Orbigny, 1853, Spiny Lima

Rusty:  Seem rather rare beached on treasure coast I have found only one so far. Interesting that they split the species.

Harry:  I consider L. caribaea the proper name for the Western Atlantic species you (and nearly all of us) used to designate "Lima lima." Recent workers (Mikkelsen P. M. and R. Bieler, 1998. File clams and flame scallops in the western Atlantic (Bivalvia: Limidae). Abstracts of the World Congress of Malacology, Washington, DC 25-30 July 1998. Chicago, 1998.) have limited Lima lima (Linnaeus, 1758) [? synonym: L. squamosa Lamarck] to the eastern Atlantic and applied L. caribaea d'Orbigny, 1842 to the western
Atlantic, L. sowerbyi Deshayes, 1863 to the Indo-West Pacific, and L.
tetrica Gould, 1851 to the Panamic species.

W. O. Cernohorsky (1972. Marine shells of the Pacific. Volume II. Pacific Publ., Sydney, pp. 1-411 incl. 68 pls., index, etc.) reported that L. sowerbyi Deshayes, 1863 was preoccupied by L. s. Geinitz, 1850, and he was emphatic in assigning L. vulgaris Link, 1807 to the "Indo-Pacific." Accepting at least the latter fact, we must consider L. vulgaris Link, 1807 the best name for the Indo-West Pacific taxon, but we've strayed "off-topic."

bottom of page