Shell Microstructure of the Basal Pectinid Pleuronectites laevigatus: Implications for Pectinoid Phylogeny (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Pteriomorphia)

New shell microstructure data for the Triassic pectinid Pleuronectites reinforce shell morphological data suggesting that its family Pectinidae was derived from the superfamily Aviculopectinoidea and not from the Pernopectinidae-Entolioidesidae-Entoliidae clade. This would make the superfamily Pectinoidea, as defined by recent authors, polyphyletic. This would also imply that alivincular-alate ligaments evolved independently in the Pernopectinidae-Entolioidesidae-Entolidae and Pectinidae clades.