Recent study of the palaeoheterodont genus Jiangxiella and the related genera and subgenera Guangdongella, Lilingella (Lilingella), L. (Xinyuella), L. (Hunanella), L. (Apseudocardinia), and Hamiconcha gen. nov., has demonstrated that the Middle Jurassic freshwater genus Pseudocardinia, which is widely distributed in Asia, was derived from the genus Jiangxiella, which occurs in brackish-water, Upper Triassic facies of South China. The recognition of an evolutionary series extending from Jiangxiella through Lilingella to Pseudocardinia sheds new light on the origin of freshwater heterodont bivalves in Asia. Emended diagnoses of the family Pseudocardiniidae Martinson, 1961, and the genus Jiangxiella Liu (in Gu and others, 1976), are presented, and a new genus, Hamiconcha, is proposed. Extensive descriptions and discussions are given of the four known genera and subgenera of this evolutionary series. Two new species of Jiangxiella (J. cuneata and J. xinyuensis) and three species of Guangdongella (G. equisita, G. longimorpha, G. brevicula) are described.