Molluscs serve as natural hosts, making members of this family the only known herpesviruses to infect invertebrates.

Disease associated with this family includes sporadic episodes of high mortality among larvae and juveniles.

[3] Acute viral necrosis virus, which affects scallops such as Chlamys farreri, appears to be a variant of Ostreid herpesvirus 1.

[8] Viruses in Malacoherpesviridae are enveloped, with icosahedral and spherical to pleomorphic geometries, and T=16 symmetry.

[1] Malacoherpesviridae may have the ability to infect across species, a feature not typically observed in vertebrate herpesviruses.