What is "cardita"

''Some older sources use Cardita for the genus Cardites, and vice versa. See below for details.''

Cardita is a genus of marine bivalve molluscs, in the family Carditidae.

Especially in the early 18th century, this genus was often confused with its relative Cardites. This started with Jean-Baptiste Lamarck describing the present genus as Cardites in 1801. However, J.H.F. Link in 1807 used that name to establish a distinct genus. When this was realized, Megerle in 1811 re-described Link's genus as Cardita.

But Cardita had already been validly established for the present genus by J.G. Bruguière in 1792; thus Megerle's action resulted in four technically valid names which formed two mutual pairs of homonyms. The matter was ultimately resolved by starting with the oldest name – that of Bruguière – and applying it as intended, and suppressing Lamarck's name so that Link's junior homonym could be used for Cardites.

In addition to the numerous junior synonyms, Byssomera – usually included in Carditamera nowadays – might actually belong in Cardita too.