Key:  Family Montacutidae

Taken primarily from  Kozloff, 1987, 1996  (Copyright 1987, 1996, University of Washington Press.  Used in this web page by permission of University of Washington Press)

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1a	Umbones close to the posterior end of the shell and inclined posteriorly (unusual for a bivalve); length not more than 5 mm (free-living in sediment or associated with burrowing crustaceans and polychaetes)	Mysella (Rochefortia) tumida
1b	Umbones near the middle of the shell and inclined slightly anteriorly; length up to nearly 2 cm	2
2a	Dorsal margin (near the hinge) of right valve as smooth as that of the left valve; thickness more than one-third of the length; ventral margin (opposite the hinge) generally either straight or indented (attached by a byssus to the ventral side of the abdomen of the decapod crustacean Upogebia pugettensis and to the ventral surface of polychaetes of the genus Aphrodita)	Pseudopythina rugifera
2b	Dorsal margin of right valve serrated, especially posterior to the umbo; thickness about 1//3 of the length; ventral margin convex to nearly straight, but not indented	Pseudopythina compressa

Pseudopythina rugifera