EVOLUTION OF THE TELLINACEA (BIVALVIA)

The suspension feeding Astartacea appear to be among the earliestheterodonts. These organisms may have given rise to the Carditaceaand the rest of the heterodonts including the Tellinacea. Paleontological evidence indicates that the earliest Tellinaceawere suspension feeders with members that lived vertically ina burrow in shifting sand. These conditions resemble those foundin species of modern Donax in the Donacidae. From a Donax-likestate of suspension feeding evolution most likely proceededto non-selective feeders. Extant organisms that resemble thisstage are found in the Solecurtidae. A later stage resemblessome of the extant Psammobiidae. The final stage in tellinaceanevolution is the acquisition of deposit feeding with its associatedmorphology. These stages are observed in the Scrobiculariidae,Tellinidae and a few members of the Semelidae. (Received 27 April 1981;