Genus Notomyrtea Iredale, 1924

Notomyrtea Iredale, 1924: 206 .

TYPE SPECIES. — Myrtea botanica Hedley, 1918 (earlier name Tellina brazieri Sowerby, 1883 preoccupied by Tellina brazieri Sowerby, 1869) (original designation).

DIAGNOSIS. — Small, flat-shelled, elongate ovoid to subtrigonal, longer than high. Sculpture of regularlyspaced, thin, commarginal lamellae, with irregular radial threads in interspaces.

Hinge with small teeth, left valve with two cardinals, right valve with one. Anterior adductor scar short, detached for about 1/3 of length.

REMARKS

Chavan (1969) synonymised Notomyrtea with Myrtea (type species M. spinifera (Montagu, 1803)) but the type species differ in shape, sculpture and hinge teeth. Eulopia (type species Lucina sagrinata Dall, 1886) from the western Atlantic has similar radial threads between the commarginal lamellae but is subcircular in shape (Bretsky 1976: pl. 34, figs 11-13). The shell illustrated by Cotton (1961: 213, fig. 217) as Notomyrtea botanica is a different species, “ Notomyrtea ” ada (Adams & Angas, 1863). Other bivalves with the characters of the type species are known from the western Pacific but are as yet undescribed.