Especially in the early 19th century, this genus was often confused with the Carditid genus
Cardites.
Cardita was originally established by
J.G. Bruguière in 1792. However, in 1801
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck described it under the name
Cardites.
J.H.F. Link subsequently described a new genus using the name
Cardites in 1807. When this homonymy was realised, Megerle in 1811 re-described Link's genus
Cardites as
Cardita. 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 – a junior synonym or subgenus of
Carditamera – has sometimes been written as a subgenus of
Cardita, due to its type species having been synonymised from
Cardita (
Byssomera)
affinis to
Carditamera (
Byssomera)
affinis. == Species ==