Praenuculidae is an extinct family of prehistoric bivalves in the superfamily Nuculoidea. Praenuculidae species lived from the early Ordovician, Arenig stage through the Early Devonian Emsian stage. Praenuculidae fossils are found worldwide, present on every continent except Antarctica.Species in this family are thought to have been sessile, attached to the substrate in shallow infaunal marine water environments, where they formed shells of an aragonite composition. The family Praenuculidae was named by A. Lee McAlester in 1969.