Taxonomy is the science of classifying the natural world. It’s a way to categorize, describe, and name living things—in this case, the mollusks that produce pearls.
There are six levels in the animal kingdom’s taxonomic system: phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. As the levels descend, the names become more specific and the group becomes smaller. Pearl-bearing mollusks are in the phylum Mollusca, but this course is mainly concerned with the genus and species levels. There are more than 100,000 species of mollusks.
Pearl-bearing mollusks have common names and scientific names. They often get their common names from the way they look. Scientific names are made up of the genus and species names. They might also be based on appearance, but they always consist of actual or adapted Latin or Greek words. Sometimes, what might look like a real Latin word is actually the “latinized” version of the name of the person who first described the mollusk for science.
For example, the common name for the bivalve mollusk that produces most Chinese freshwater cultured pearls is “triangle mussel.” It’s called that because the shell has a triangular shape. The scientific name is Hyriopsis cumingii . The mussel was named for Hugh Cuming, a nineteenth-century British naturalist.
Scientific names are always italicized. The genus name starts with a capital letter, and the species name starts with a lowercase letter. Normally, the genus name is spelled out in full the first time it’s mentioned. After that, only the initial capital letter of the genus name is used, followed by the species name. For example, Hyriopsis cumingii would later appear as H. cumingii.
Some pearl-bearing mollusks are subspecies. A subspecies usually evolved from a species because it became geographically isolated and developed its own unique characteristics. An example is the principal pearl-bearing mollusk naturally found in French Polynesia and other South Pacific islands. Its scientific name is Pinctada margaritifera cumingii. Its common name is the black-lipped mollusk. The P. margaritifera species, but not the cumingii subspecies (also named for Hugh Cuming), is found in other locations in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.
