An approximately 400-bp-long portion of the 16s rRNA gene sequence has been determined for the venerid clams Chamelea gallina (Chioninae), Dosinia lupinus (Dosiniinae), Pitar rudis, Callista chione (Pitarinae), Tapes decussatus, T. philippinarum, Venerupis (= Paphia) aurea (Tapetinae), and Venus verrucosa (Venerinae). Neighbor-joining and maximum parsimony trees support the results of traditional classification methods at the subfamily level but do not support the concept of a genus Tapes. The transversion divergence rate estimated on the basis of the palaeontological record for the C. gallina/V. verrucosa separation and for the Pitarinae is very close (0.14-0.16% per Myr, respectively) to that of ungulates and cetaceans, while the Tapetinae exhibit a much higher (0.36% per Myr) rate.