PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF VENERIDAE (BIVALVIA) - COMPARISON OF MOLECULAR AND PALEONTOLOGICAL DATA

An approximately 400-bp-long portion of the 16s rRNA gene sequence has been determined for the venerid clams Chamelea gallina (Chioninae), D osinia lupinus (Dosiniinae), Pitar rudis, Callista chione (Pitarinae), Tapes decussatus, T. philippinarum, Venerupis (= Paphia) aurea (Tapet inae), and Venus verrucosa (Venerinae). Neighbor-joining and maximum p arsimony trees support the results of traditional classification metho ds at the subfamily level but do not support the concept of a genus Ta pes. The transversion divergence rate estimated on the basis of the pa laeontological record for the C. gallina/V. verrucosa separation and f or the Pitarinae is very close (0.14-0.16% per Myr, respectively) to t hat of ungulates and cetaceans, while the Tapetinae exhibit a much hig her (0.36% per Myr) rate.