Fifty-one new species of marine bivalves from tropical West Africa

Two new genera, fifty-one new species and two new subspecies of marine bivalves from the coast of tropical West Africa are described, and one preoccupied specific name is replaced. The new taxa result from a detailed systematic study of the extensive West African marine bivalve material in MNHN and some other institutions, and from several field trips by the author, in preparation of an exhaustive identification handbook of the tropical West African marine bivalves. Three genera (Fulvia, Cryptomya, Paramya) and one subgenus (Diberus) were not previously recorded from the eastern Atlantic, one family (Plicatulidae) and two genera (Plicatula, Ctenoides) were known as Cretaceous or Tertiary fossils from West Africa (Cameroon, Zaïre, Angola) but not living, and two other genera (Parvicirce, Spheniopsis) were hitherto represented only by European Tertiary fossils.