Unionidae

noun

freshwater mussels found worldwide

• Syn: ↑family Unionidae

• Hypernyms: ↑mollusk family

• Member Holonyms: ↑Bivalvia, ↑class Bivalvia, ↑Lamellibranchia, ↑class Lamellibranchia, ↑class Pelecypoda

• Member Meronyms: ↑Unio, ↑genus Unio, ↑Anodonta, ↑genus Anodonta, ↑Dreissena, ↑genus Dreissena

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\\ˌ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ˈänəˌdē\ noun plural

Usage: capitalized

Etymology: New Latin, from Union-, Unio, type genus + -idae

: a very large family of freshwater mussels (suborder Submytilacea) having a pearly often roughly sculptured shell with a thick epidermis and larvae that pass through a glochidium stage and being represented in nearly all parts of the world but chiefly in No. America where the nacreous shells of many of them are used for button making