| Cardites | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Shell of Cardites antiquatus from Sardinia at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Bivalvia |
| Subclass: | Heterodonta |
| Order: | Carditida |
| Superfamily: | Carditoidea |
| Family: | Carditidae |
| Genus: | Cardites Link, 1807 |
Cardites is a genus of marine bivalve molluscs, in the family Carditidae.
A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, as well as viruses, in biology. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.
Family is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy; it is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as being the "walnut family".
Carditidae is a family of marine bivalve clams of the order Carditida, which was long included in the Veneroida. They are the type taxon of the superfamily Carditoidea. Delimitation of this family versus the closely related Condylocardiidae is somewhat problematic.
