“Genus Benthocardiella n. gen.
Type B. pusilla Powell.
The genus stands nearest to Condylocardia, having a similar proportionately large prodissoconch but divergent hinge characters which constitute the reason for separating this species as the type of a new genus.
In the right valve there are three cardinals, an elongated anterior and two posterior. In the left valve there are two cardinals, one anterior and the other posterior. There is also in the right valve an anterior thickening of the valve edge high up near the hinge plate, interlocking with a small lateral in the opposite valve. The resilium pit is spoon-shaped and central and the adductor-scars are subequal as in Condylocardia. The shell is thin and fragile and the surface smooth, except for almost obsolete concentric growth lines.
In Condylocardia there are four cardinals in the right valve and two in the left. The posterior cardinal in the left valve of Benthocardiella differs from that of Condylocardia in having a prominent hook at the proximal end. In the right valve the two posterior cardinals are completely separated, not distal projections confluent with hinge line and valve margin as in Condylocardia. The anterior lateral differs in being situated higher up near the hinge line.”
(Powell, 1930: 533)
