Scabies (bivalve)
genus of molluscs
Scabies is a genus of freshwater mussels found in the Indochina region. They belong to the family Unionidae, the river mussels. Members of this genus can be identified by brown zigzag patterns arranged in V- or W-shaped configurations that form grooves in their shells.
Taxonomy
The genus was initially introduced as a subgenus of the genus Nodularia Conrad, 1853, and later raised to the generic level by Haas (1969).
In 2019, a study of the molecular phylogeny of the known Scabies species and two species of the Radiatula genus resulted in the transfer of R. humilis (Lea, 1856) and R. pilata (Lea, 1866) to the Scabies genus as S. humilis and S. pilata. This study also demonstrated a sufficiently large phylogenetic difference between S. songkramensis (Kongim & Panha, 2015) and the other species of the Scabies genus, so a subsequent study in 2020 placed it in its own monotypic genus Scabiellus.
In 2024, S. longata and S. chinensis were identified as junior synonyms of existing species Nodularia douglasiae and N. nuxpersicae respectively.
Description
The shell of the members of this genus is relatively solid, though not especially thick, and varies in shape from elongate-oval to wedge-shaped (cuneiform) or kidney-shaped (reniform). The outer surface (periostracum) is typically yellowish to olive-green in colour and is marked with brown zigzag patterns arranged in V- or W-shaped configurations.
The hinge structure is characterised by lamelliform lateral teeth.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Scabies (bivalve)” is genus of molluscs. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Scabies, bivalve and genus, not as a finished interpretation.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20978871. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1853, 1969, 2019 and 1856.
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This entry incorporates text from “Scabies (bivalve)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.