All genera based on fossil type species belonging to the family Mactridae are alphabetically listed in this work. The oldest records of the Mactridae come from Cretaceous deposits of North America. However, this group of bivalves has been worldwide recorded from the Paleogene and Neogene. An emended diagnosis for each genus is herein provided. In addition to that, type species, type localities, and occurrences are included. For each genus, a remarks section includes the most recent published taxonomic opinions. Nevertheless, in some cases, new taxonomic decisions based on morphological analysis of types have been taken. Genera based on extant type species are excluded from this work. Forty-five genera are listed herein and type material has been reproduced wherever possible. Ionesimactra nom. nov. is proposed as a replacement name for Caspimactra Ionesi (non Caspimactra Ali-Zade and Kabakova). This work constitutes the basis for future revisions related to fossil taxa of the family Mactridae from different regions.