Rec. zool. Surv. India: Vol. 120(4)/509–511, 2021 ISSN (Online) : 2581-8686 DOI: 10.26515/rzsi/v120/i4/2020/131389 ISSN (Print) : 0375-1511 Short Communication Range extension and first record of Meretrix lusoria (Röding, 1798) (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Veneridae) from Indian coastal waters Rajendar Kumar Rupavath*, Rajkumar Rajan and Vanishree Jegadeesan Marine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Chennai - 600028, Tamil Nadu, India Email:
[email protected] Abstract Meretrix lusoria (Röding, 1798), one of the commercially important marine bivalves found in waters of west Taiwan, Meretrix southeast China, Thailand and Japan, is reported for the first time from the coastal waters of India (Andhra Pradesh coast, Bay of Bengal), thus extending its range from Central Indo-Pacific to Bay of Bengal. This report raises the tally of spp. so far known from India to four. Keywords: Bay of Bengal, First Record, Meretrix lusoria, Veneridae Introduction systematic classification were followed as per Hornell (1917), Huber (2010) and Rao (2017). The genus Meretrix is restricted to the Indian and Chinese seas, from Aden and the Gulf of Oman to Timorand the Results Philippines, and as far north as Japan (Jukes-Browney, with 13 species known so far (Huber, 2010). There Taxonomy ,(1913 are only three species known to occur so far in Indian waters, namely Meretrix attenuata Dunker, 1863, Meretrix Phylum MOLLUSCA casta (Gmelin, 1791), and Meretrix meretrix (Linnaeus, Class BIVALVIA Hornell, 1917). The specimen reported here, Subterclass EUHETERODONTA) (1758 collected off Andhra Pradesh coast (East coast of India, Order VENERIDA Bay of Bengal), is identified asMeretrix lusoria (Röding, 1798), which is a new addition to this genus from Indian Superfamily VENEROIDEA waters, since Hornell (1917).