Abstract The structure of the pallial, ectopic eye of Patinopecten yessoensis is described and shown to be of the typical pectinid form, located on the middle mantle fold. The cornea is, however, a tall epithelium and, with the lens, forms a Cartesian oval, unlike the lens alone in other pectinids which functions to counter spherical aberration. The basal cell layer beneath the retina and argentea is poorly pigmented, although this may be countered by the fact that the optic tentacle epithelium itself is apically heavily pigmented. It is generally assumed that pectinid pallial eyes, being able to perceive a moving image, are used to warn of vicinal predators, resulting in swimming. However, this does not seem to be the case; although crabs and starfish, in particular, are known predators of scallops, which respond by swimming to the latter, they do so (usually) on receipt of mechanical and chemical stimuli, not visual. Some scallop species live in seagrass beds and there is evidence that these may afford protection. Scallops are visually attracted to the waving fronds. Scallops may also make relocation movements and, in more specialized taxa, e.g. species of Amusium , can swim for several metres. The visual sense of scallops is poorly understood and although pallial eyes may have developed early in the ancestry of the Pectinidae, as an antipredation sense organ, they may, in the descendants, now have a different, but perhaps related, function, although what this is, is unknown. Pectinid pallial eyes may improve the efficiency of photon capture in low light intensity subtidal habitats but for what purpose is unclear, since even if they are functioning as optical ‘burglar alarms’, what could they see in such a situation, especially as there is no brain to formulate an image?

Abstract Recent data on the distributions of cilia and mucocytes on the bivalve gill abfrontal surface are analysed with respect to evolutionary relationships of the principal autobranch gill types. From the primitive function as a mucociliary cleaning surface in the protobranchs, two evolutionary trajectories are evident: (1) progressive reduction of both cilia and mucocytes with resultant loss of surface function, seen in the homorhabdic filibranchs studied; (2) reduction of cilia but retention or increase in acid mucopolysaccharide-secreting (AMPS) mucocyte density in the eulamellibranchs, corresponding to the assumption of a new function, probably in the reduction of frictional resistance to flow in the water canals. Heterorhabdic gill abfrontal surfaces present a mixture of these characteristics: reduction of cilia and mucocytes on the ordinary filaments, and retention of both on the principal filaments. The retention of AMPS mucocytes on the abfrontal surface of the pseudolamellibranchs may be related to the degree of interlamellar fusion, reducing frictional resistance to water flow as in the eulamellibranchs. The gill abfrontal surface thus constitutes an excellent candidate for the study of the different evolutionary options and trajectories of a redundant feature.

Abstract The classification of the Pteriomorphia, a major division of the Bivalvia with Ordovician origins, is controversial both among palaeontologists and neontologists. To elucidate phylogenetic relationships new near-complete 18S rDNA sequences of 26 Pteriomorphia, three Protobranchia, three Heterodonta, one Anomalodesmata and three Scaphopoda were obtained, aligned with 71 other published molluscan sequences, and analysed with parsimony, maximum likelihood and spectral analysis. Although Bivalvia appear diphyletic due to heterogeneity of substitution rates among lineages, monophyly of Protobranchia, Heteroconchia and Pteriomorphia is supported. The heteroconch Lucinida, Myoida and Venerida are not monophyletic, and Anomalodesmata arise from within Heteroconchia. The basal nodes of Pteriomorphia have little support but two major clades, [Pinnoidea (Ostreoidea + Pterioidea)] and [(Anomioidea + Plicatuloidea) + (Limoidea + Pectinoidea)], are resolved with more confidence. The strongly supported clade of Anomioidea + Plicatuloidea, the separation of Pinnoidea from Pterioidea and most of the intrafamiliar relationships are not in accordance with morphological classifications. Combining these results with selected morphological characters, a phylogenetic hypothesis is proposed showing Mytiloidea and Arcoidea as the basal pteriomorph groups, the latter giving rise to the clade uniting the pinnoid-ostreoid-pterioid and the anomioid-limoid-pectinoid lines.