Hello all
I have been trying to teach myself bivalve identification by rooting
around in a box of unmarked bivalves and seeing if I could at least
identify the genus of some of them.  Like all my unmarked shells, I have
no idea where they came from.
I have one small bivalve that when I pried apart the valves I determined
was a Nuculid Clam.  (Never saw one before).  Various books that I am
using, all for North American species disagree on the size ranges for
the different species.  Given the following description (and not knowing
it's source) can anyone tell me if this could be one of the North
American species, or at least, if the genus is Nucula?  I was all set to
call it Nucula proxima except that it seems to be too large, and have
too many teeth.
 
Size: 15mm long, 11 mm high
Shape: trigonal with convex lower margin, quite inflated
Color/Texture: white, almost translucent, growth lines, fine radiating
lines visible in microscope
Interior: pearly, lower margin finely toothed, very high and fine
comblike teeth, about 25 posterior to umbone and 12 to 15 anterior to
umbone.
 
Oh, and can anyone tell me what Tucker Abbott in American Seashells
means by "divaricate" as in divaricate sculpture, divaricate radiating
ribs etc...
Last question - any iea how I could get the two valves back together?
Thanks in advance
 
Nora Bryan
Calgary, Alberta
CANADA