The pearl wing shell, Pteria penguin (Roding) from the Andaman Islands, India

Abstract

During a recent visit to the Andaman Islands in January-February, 1961, thewriter obtained two pearl wing shells which were collected by a diver in the waters of about six fathoms depth in the vicinity of the Havelock Island in Ritchie's Archipelago. As these shells are hitherto very little known from the Indian waters, in the following account their conchological characters are described with notes on the taxonomy and distribution of Pteria penguin (Roding) to which they have been ascribed under the family Pteriidae of Bivalvia. The shells from the aforesaid locality have also been compared with those of the same species from the pearl paars of the Gulf of Mannar.