Ledella Verrill and Bush, 1897

La Perna, R., 2004, The identity of Yoldia micrometrica Seguenza, 1877 and three new deep-sea protobranchs from the Mediterranean (Bivalvia), Journal of Natural History 38, pp. 1045-1057 : 1052

Genus Ledella Verrill and Bush, 1897

Type-species Ledella bushae Warén, 1978 .

Warén (1978, 1981) contributed to the definition of the genus Ledella and its type-species ( ICZN, 1985), referring to this genus species with a rather solid shell and hinge, a well-developed blunt rostration and a posteriorly inclined umbo. Warén (1978) also stated that ‘ Yoldiella may be separated [from Ledella ] by having a less rounded shell which is more compressed and has a less solid hinge’. However, there is a group of fossil and living European species which differs from the typical Ledella species in having a less inclined umbo and a slightly keeled and markedly pointed rostrum. These species should be more properly attributed to Ledella , rather than the confused genus Yoldiella . This group includes the living Ledella messanensis (Jeffreys, 1870) , L. folini (Warén, 1878) , probably also L. pustulosa (Jeffreys, 1876) , and the Pleistocene L. rectidorsata (Seguenza, 1877) , the Pliocene L. seminulum (Seguenza, 1877) and the Miocene L. peraffinis (Seguenza, 1877) and L. glabra Laghi and Palazzi, 1989 .