Etheria elliptica

Etheria is a genus of freshwater oysters in the Etheriidae family of mollusk bivalves, and a part of the Unionida order.^[1] The genus includes a single species, Etheria elliptica, that is found throughout Africa and Madagascar.^[2]

Etheria elliptica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Order:	Unionida
Family:	Etheriidae
Genus:	Etheria Lamarck, 1807
Species:	E. elliptica
Binomial name
Etheria elliptica Lamarck, 1807

Etheria elliptica was first described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1807, and lives in river basins along the Nile, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria, and in Chad, Zaire, Niger, Senegal, and Angola.^[3]

Etheria are found as fossils at paleontological sites in Africa, including at Lake Turkana 3-5 million years ago.^[4] It first appears in the Miocene in northeast Zaire.^[3]

Synonyms

• Aetheria bourguignati Rochebrune, 1886 ·
• † Aetheria chambardi Bourguignat, 1880 ·
• Aetheria denhami Koenig, 1826 ·
• Aetheria elliptica (Lamarck, 1807) ·
• Aetheria elliptica var. globosa E. von Martens, 1897 ·
• Aetheria heteromorpha Simroth, 1894 ·
• Aetheria letourneuxi Bourguignat, 1880 ·
• Aetheria nidushirundinis Simroth, 1890 ·
• Aetheria nilotica Bourguignat, 1880 ·
• Aetheria petrettinii Bourguignat, 1880 ·
• Aetheria senegalica Bourguignat, 1880 ·
• Aetheria tanganikana Bourguignat, 1889 ·
• Aetheria tubifera G. B. Sowerby I, 1825 (junior synonym)
• Aetheria tubulifera [sic] ·
• Etheria cailliaudi A. Férussac, 1824 ·
• Etheria carteroni Michelin, 1831
• Etheria lamarckii A. Férussac, 1824 (unnecessary substitute name for...)
• Etheria plumbea A. Férussac, 1824 (unnecessary substitute name for...)
• Etheria semilunata Lamarck, 1807 ·
• Etheria transversa Lamarck, 1807 (junior synonym)
• Etheria trigonula Lamarck, 1807 (junior synonym)