Cladistic perspectives on early bivalve evolution

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Abstract
Parsimony analysis suggests derivation of the Bivalvia from monoplacophorans rather than from rostroconchs, and additionally indicates that a phylogenetic classification of the Bivalvia can be achieved by erecting the superorder Nuculaniformiinov.and the order Nuculanoidanov.for the superfamily Nuculanoidea; relegating all other palaeotaxodonts to the superorder Nuculiformii; restricting the order Nuculoida to the families Nuculidae and Pristiglomidae; expanding the order Solemyoida to include ctenodontid genera as basal plesions; restricting the superorder Heteroconchia to palaeoheterodonts and heterodonts, exclusive of the Modiomorphidae; relegating the new family Evyanidae, the Colpomyidae, Matheriidae and Modiolodontidae to near-basal plesion status within the superorder Pteriomorphia; restricting the Mytiloida to the superfamily Mytiloidea, inclusive of modiolopsid genera as basal plesions; placingOrtonellaas a basal plesion within the Cyrtodontoida; expanding the order Pectinoida to include the Myodakryotidae and the suborders Limina and Pectinina; and expanding the superfamily Arcoidea to include the frejid genera andCatamarcaiaas basal plesions, and the family Glyptarcidae. Modiomorphid anomalodesmatans appear to be more closely related to the Pteriomorphia than to the Heteroconchia, andEvyanalies close to the common ancestry of modiomorphids and colpomyid pteriomorphians. Arcoids may have evolved from left-right symmetrical but otherwise rhombopteriid-like ancestors, rather than from actinodontoids or directly from cyrtodontids. The new family Eodonidae is proposed to distinguish the nacreous genusEodonfrom the non-nacreous Astartidae within the superfamily Crassatelloidea.