WoRMS

WoRMS taxon details

Mya truncata Linnaeus, 1758

AphiaID

140431 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:140431)

Classification

Status

accepted

Rank

Species

Type taxon of

Mya Linnaeus, 1758

Parent

Mya Linnaeus, 1758

Original name

Mya truncata Linnaeus, 1758

Synonymised names

Corbula gibbosa Broderip & G. B. Sowerby I, 1829 · unaccepted (junior synonym)

Mya (Mya) truncata Linnaeus, 1758 · unaccepted > superseded combination

Mya arenaria var. truncata Linnaeus, 1758 · unaccepted > superseded rank

Mya ovalis W. Turton, 1822 · unaccepted

Mya praecisa A. A. Gould, 1850 · unaccepted

Mya pullus J. De C. Sowerby, 1826 · unaccepted

Mya truncata pelagica W. King, 1846 · unaccepted

Mya truncata truncata Linnaeus, 1758 · unaccepted > superseded rank

Mya truncata uddevalensis Forbes, 1846 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym

Mya truncata var. abbreviata Jeffreys, 1865 · unaccepted

Mya truncata var. uddevallensis Forbes, 1846 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym

Mya uddevalensis Hancock, 1846 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym

Sphenia swainsoni W. Turton, 1822 · unaccepted

Direct children (6)

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Subspecies Mya truncata ovata A. S. Jensen, 1900 accepted as Mya pseudoarenaria Schlesch, 1931
Subspecies Mya truncata pelagica W. King, 1846 accepted as Mya truncata Linnaeus, 1758
Subspecies Mya truncata truncata Linnaeus, 1758 accepted as Mya truncata Linnaeus, 1758 (unaccepted > superseded rank)
Subspecies Mya truncata uddevalensis Forbes, 1846 accepted as Mya truncata Linnaeus, 1758 (unaccepted > junior subjective synonym)
Variety Mya truncata var. abbreviata Jeffreys, 1865 accepted as Mya truncata Linnaeus, 1758
Variety Mya truncata var. uddevallensis Forbes, 1846 accepted as Mya truncata Linnaeus, 1758 (unaccepted > junior subjective synonym)

Environment

marine, ~~fresh~~, ~~terrestrial~~

Fossil range

recent + fossil

Original description

Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Laurentii Salvii. Holmiae [Stockholm]. [iii] + 824 pp. , available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726886
page(s): 670 [details] Available for editors

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Descriptive notes

Nomenclature ICZN direction 73: specific name of type species of Mya Linnaeus, 1758

Nomenclature ICZN direction 73: specific name of type species of Mya Linnaeus, 1758 [details]

Distribution Arctic seas to Nahant, Massachusetts; Europe; Arctic seas to Washington; Japan

Distribution Arctic seas to Nahant, Massachusetts; Europe; Arctic seas to Washington; Japan [details]

Distribution Circumboreal

Distribution Circumboreal [details]

Taxonomic citation

MolluscaBase eds. (2026). MolluscaBase. Mya truncata Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=140431 on 2026-06-23

Taxonomic edit history

Date

action

2004-12-21 15:54:05Z

created

Gofas, Serge

2026-04-20 10:07:47Z

changed

Vinarski, Maxim

Licensing

The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

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Nomenclature

original description Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Laurentii Salvii. Holmiae [Stockholm]. [iii] + 824 pp. , available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726886
page(s): 670 [details] Available for editors

[request]

original description (of Corbula gibbosa Broderip & G. B. Sowerby I, 1829) Broderip, W. J. & Sowerby, G. B. I. (1829). Observations on new or interesting Mollusca contained, for the most part, in the Museum of the Zoological Society. Zoological Journal. 4: 359-379, pl. 9. [January]., available online at http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27485275
page(s): 361 [details]

original description (of Mya ovalis W. Turton, 1822) Turton, W. (1822). Conchylia insularum britannicarum. London: Nattali, and Leicester: Combe. xlvii + 280 pp., 20 pls., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10982454#page/9/mode/1up [details]

original description (of Mya praecisa A. A. Gould, 1850) Gould, A. A. (1850). [descriptions of new species of shells from the United States Exploring Expedition]. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. 3: 151-156, 169–172, 214-218, 252–256, 275–278, 292–296, 309–312, 343–348., available online at http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8870453
page(s): 215. [details]

original description (of Mya pullus J. De C. Sowerby, 1826) Sowerby, J. De C. (1826-1835). The mineral conchology of Great Britain; or coloured figures and descriptions of those remains of testaceous animals or shells, which have been preserved at various times and depths in the Earth. Vol. VI. London, privately published, pp. 1-230 + index [231-235], pls 504-609. [pp. 1-86, pls 504-545 (1826); pp. 87-156, pls 546-580 (1827); pp. 157-200, pls 581-597 (1828); pp. 201-230, pls 598-609, index pp. 231-235 (1829); systematical index (1835)]. , available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/50339
page(s): 58, pl. 531, fig. 2 [details]

original description (of Sphenia swainsoni W. Turton, 1822) Turton, W. (1822). Conchylia insularum britannicarum. London: Nattali, and Leicester: Combe. xlvii + 280 pp., 20 pls., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10982454#page/9/mode/1up [details]

original description (of Mya truncata pelagica W. King, 1846) King, W. (1846). An account of some shells and other invertebrate from found on the coast of Northumberland and of Durham. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 18: 233-251., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2319570
page(s): 234 [details]

original description (of Mya uddevalensis Hancock, 1846) Hancock A. 1846. A list of shells dredged on the West Coast of Davis's Strait; with notes and descriptions of eight new species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 18: 323-338, available online at http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2319632 [details]

original description (of Mya truncata var. uddevallensis Forbes, 1846) Forbes E. (1846). On the Connexion between the Distribution of the existing Fauna and Flora of the British Isles. and the Geological Changes which have affected their area, especially during the epoch of the Northern Drift. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, and of the Museum of Economic Geology in London. 1: 336-432/., available online at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015065223979&seq=348
page(s): 407 [details]

original description (of Mya truncata var. abbreviata Jeffreys, 1865) Jeffreys J.G. (1865). Further report on Shetland dredging. Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1864): 327-342, available online at https://books.google.com/books?id=yvRJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA327 [details]

Other

context source (BeRMS 2020) Marine Biology Section, Ugent. Belgium. INRAM. Benthic fauna monitoring- SSD - Belgian Science Policy., available online at http://www.vliz.be/projects/inram/imers.php. [details]

additional source Gosner, K. L. (1971). Guide to identification of marine and estuarine invertebrates: Cape Hatteras to the Bay of Fundy. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., London. 693 pp. [pdf copepod and branchiuran :445-455]. (look up in IMIS) [details] Available for editors

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additional source Abbott, R. T. (1974). American seashells. The marine Mollusca of the Atlantic and Pacific coast of North America. ed. 2. Van Nostrand, New York. 663 pp., 24 pls. [October 1974]. (look up in IMIS) [details]

additional source Huber, M. (2010). Compendium of bivalves. A full-color guide to 3,300 of the world's marine bivalves. A status on Bivalvia after 250 years of research. Hackenheim: ConchBooks. 901 pp., 1 CD-ROM. (look up in IMIS) [details]

additional source Amaro T., Duineveld G. & Tyler P. 2005. (2005). Does Mya truncata reproduce at its southern distribution limit? Preliminary information. Journal of Shellfish Research. 24(1): 25–28,., available online at https://doi.org/10.2983/0730-8000(2005)24[25:dmtrai]2.0.co;2 [details] Available for editors

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additional source Zhang J.L., Yurchenko O.V., Lutaenko K.A., Kalachev A.V., Nekhaev I.O., Aguilar R., Zhan Z.F. & Ogburn M.B. (2018). A tale of two soft-shell clams: an integrative taxonomic analysis confirms Mya japonica as a valid species distinct from Mya arenaria (Bivalvia: Myidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 184(3): 605-622., available online at https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx107 [details] Available for editors

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Present

Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio

Inaccurate

Introduced: alien

Containing type locality

From editor or global species database

Nomenclature ICZN direction 73: specific name of type species of Mya Linnaeus, 1758 [details]

Unreviewed

Dimensions reaches 2.5 to 7.5 cm in size [details]

Distribution Arctic seas to Nahant, Massachusetts; Europe; Arctic seas to Washington; Japan [details]

Distribution Circumboreal [details]

Habitat bathyal, infralittoral and circalittoral of the Gulf and estuary [details]

Importance edible [details]

Reproduction separate sexes, usually not dimorphic in shell structure; fertilization occurs within the mantle cavity anf young hatch as pelagic larvae (generalized for group) [details]

Definitions

Language	Name
Danish	afstumpet sandmusling	[details]
Dutch	afgeknotte strandgaperafgeknotte gaper	[details]
English	truncate softshell clamtruncate softshellSoft-shelled clamclamblunt gaper clamblunt gaper	[details]
French	mye tronquée	[details]
German	Gestutzte Sandklaffmuschelgestutzte Klaffmuschelabgestutzte Klaffmuschel	[details]
Japanese	エゾオオノガイ	[details]
Russian	Мия усеченная	[details]