Teredo (genus)

Teredo
This dried specimen of Teredo navalis was extracted from the wood and the calcareous tunnel that originally surrounded it and curled into a circle artificially. The two valves of the shell are the white structures at the anterior end; they are used to dig the tunnel in the wood.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Myoida
Family: Teredinidae
Genus: Teredo
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Teredo navalis
Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms[1]
  • Austroteredo Habe, 1952
  • Coeloteredo
  • Pingoteredo Barsch, 1932
  • Teredo (Bitubuloteredo) Li, 1965
  • Teredo (Coeloteredo) Bartsch, 1923
  • Teredo (Zopoteredo) Bartsch, 1923
  • Zopoteredo

Teredo is a genus of highly modified saltwater clams which bore in wood and live within the tunnels they create. They are commonly known as "shipworms," and are marine bivalve molluscs in the taxonomic family Teredinidae. The type species is Teredo navalis.[1]

Because it is a tunneling genus, Teredo was chosen as the namesake of the Teredo network tunneling protocol. HMS Teredo, a submarine, may also have been named after this genus, which works invisibly, below the surface, and can be very damaging to marine installations made of wood.

Species

Species within the genus Teredo include:

Gallery

See also

Teredora princesae

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Serge Gofas (2004). "Teredo Linnaeus, 1758". World Register of Marine Species.

External links

External identifiers for Teredo (genus)
Encyclopedia of Life 56957
GBIF 2288843
ITIS 81861
NCBI 263428
WoRMS 138539