Ostrea edulis var. bracteata Lichtenstein, 1794

Geiger, Daniel L., 2022, Anton August Heinrich Lichtenstein’s (1794) Catalogus Rerum Naturalium Rarissimarum, pars secunda. Facsimile edition and annotated translation, Zootaxa 5127 (1), pp. 1-126 : 115

Ostrea edulis var. bracteata Lichtenstein, 1794

The species is listed between Ostrea edulis Linnaeus, 1758 (Ostreidae) , and Ostrea sinensis (= Spondylus sinensis ( Schreibers, 1793)) (Spondylidae) . Lichtenstein (1794) cited Rumpfius (1705: chap. 30, sp. 7, pl. 42, fig. C) for this species, who described “ Chama litterata rotunda ” (= Circe scripta Linnaeus, 1758 ) ( Beekman 1992), whose upper valve, is almost round in outline, convex, and marked with M and W shaped concentric zigzag lines. Chemnitz’ (1786: vol. 9, pl. 116, fig. 995) cited figure of “ Ostrea sinistrosae ” from Portugal shows the lower half of a Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793) , now but not then a common species in Europe ( Poppe & Goto 1993). It is unclear what type of bivalve could lead Lichtenstein to compare it to these two very different species. The dimensions given are 2 1/ 4 inches, 1 1/ 4 inches wide, and 1 inch deep. Ostrea edulis var. bracteata remains a nomen dubium.

The specimen of Ostrea edulis var. bracteata was described as having an epibiontic brown granular “Penne”. This could refere to a Pinna / Atrina (Pinnidae) species.