Pectinoidea (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Propeamussiidae, Cyclochlamydidae n. fam., Entoliidae and Pectinidae) from the Vanuatu Archipelago

This paper documents the species of Pectinoidea Rafinesque, 1815 collected in Vanuatu during the SANTO 2006 expedition. A total of 49 species (13 Propeamussiidae Abbott, 1954, 4 Cyclochlamydidae n. fam., 1 Entoliidae Teppner, 1922, and 31 Pectinidae Rafinesque, 1815) are represented, of which 70% are new records for Vanuatu. A new family, Cyclochlamydidae n. fam., is established for the genera CyclochlamysFinlay, 1926, Chlamydella lredale, 1929 and Micropecten n. gen., formerly placed in Propeamussiidae, but differing by their sculptured prodissoconch (smooth in Propeamussiidae), an occasionally antimarginally sculptured right valve (smooth or weak commarginally sculptured in Propeamussiidae), a (common) simple outer prismatic layer of longitudinally hexagonal microstructure on the right valve (an outer layer of columnar calcite in Propeamussiidae). The family Cyclochlamydidae n. fam. includes about 30 species, all with adult size in the 1.2–6 mm range, and living mainly in the Southern Hemisphere and Indo-West Pacific; the family is not known from the Arctic, the Atlantic, or the northern and eastern Pacific. One new genus, Micropecten n. gen., and two new species, Cyclochlamys aperta n. sp. and Micropecten excuratus n. gen., n. sp., are described.