The new phylogenetic relationships in Veneridae (Bivalvia: Venerida)

The phylogeny of Veneridae has always been controversial. An inappropriate choice of morphological characteristics and loss of critical molecular information will inevitably lead to conflicts between morphological and molecular evolutionary inferences. Phylogenetic relationships in Veneridae, based on both multigene fragments and mitogenomes, were studied, including the redefinition of controversial taxa based on morphological characteristics. Our results support the monophyly of the subfamilies Chioninae, Gemminae, Gouldiinae, Petricolinae and Sunettinae. Callistinae and Pitarinae are considered as valid. The genus Placamen is placed in Dosiniinae, Periglypta in Venerinae, Pelecyora in Pitarinae and Lioconcha and Hyphantosoma in Gouldiinae. Anomalodiscus squamosus is assigned to Timoclea, whereas Marcia hiantina and Marcia japonica are placed in Tapes. In addition, Claudiconcha japonica is removed from Petricolinae, and Gafrarium tumidum is considered valid. Finally, we propose to divide Veneridae into two families: Veneridae s.s. and Meretricidae, constituted by four and 11 subfamilies, respectively. Our study verifies that multigene fragments and mitochondrial genomes are of vital importance in phylogenetic relationships within Veneridae.