Epioblasma torulosa (Rafinesque, 1820)

Tubercled blossom pearly mussel, Turberculed riffle shell, Tubercled blossom, Tubercled-blossom pearly mussel

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonym/s: Dysnomia torulosa torulosa Rafinesque, 1820; Epioblasma torulosa torulosa (Rafinesque, 1820)

Conservation Status

Extinct (Bogan, 2000b; Régnier et al., 2009; Cummings & Cordeiro, 2012; Graf & Cummings, 2021, 2025)

Last record: 1969 (Cummings & Cordeiro, 2012) or later

IUCN RedList status: Extinct

Distribution & Habitat

Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio & Tennessee, USA

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Rafinesque C. S. (1820). Monographie des coquilles bivalves et fluviatiles de la Rivière Ohio, contenant douze genres et soixante-huit espéces. Annales Générales des Sciences Physiques 5(5): 287-322, pls 80-82.

Other references:

Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (eds). (1996). 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. pp. 378. International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Bogan, Arthur E. (Mollusc Specialist Group). (2000a). Epioblasma torulosa ssp. torulosa. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 19 July 2013.

Bogan, Arthur E. (Mollusc Specialist Group). (2000b). Epioblasma torulosa ssp. torulosa. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2000: e.T7888A12861959. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T7888A12861959.en. Accessed on 04 July 2022.

Bogan, Arthur E. and Parmalee, Paul W. (1983). Tennessee's Rare Wildlife. Volume II: The Mollusks. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Cummings, K. and Cordeiro, J. (2012). Epioblasma torulosa. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 19 July 2013.

Cummings, Kevin S. and Mayer, C. A. (1992). Field Guide to Freshwater Mussels of the Midwest (Illinois Natural History Survey Manual Vol. 5. Champaign, IL: Illinois Natural History Survey. 194 pp.

Graf, Daniel L. and Cummings, Kevin S. (2021). A ‘big data’ approach to global freshwater mussel diversity (Bivalvia: Unionoida), with an updated checklist of genera and species. Journal of Molluscan Studies 87(1): eyaa034 (36 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1093/mollus/eyaa034

Graf, Daniel L. and Cummings, Kevin S. (2025). The Freshwater Mussels (Unionoida) of the World (and other less consequential bivalves). MUSSEL Project Web Site, https://www.mussel-project.net/. Accessed 4 July 2025.

Groombridge, B. (ed.). (1994). 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Haag, Wendell R. (2009). Past and future patterns of freshwater mussel extinctions in North America during the Holocene, pp. 107-128. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK & New York, USA: Oxford University Press. xii + 352 pp.

Hilton-Taylor, Craig. (2000). 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN. (1990). IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Lea, Isaac. (1831). Observations on the naïades, and descriptions of new species of that and other families. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. (NS) 4: 63-121, plates 3-18.

Mirarchi, R. E. (2004). Alabama Wildlife. Volume One: A Checklist of Vertebrates and Selected Invertebrates: Aquatic Mollusks, Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals. University of Alabama Press: Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 209 pp.

MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Epioblasma torulosa (Rafinesque, 1820). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=857305 on 2025-07-04

NatureServe. (2014). NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. Version 7.1. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available http://explorer.natureserve.org. (Accessed: January 27, 2015 ).

Parmalee, P. W. and Bogan, Arthur E. (1998). The Freshwater Mussels of Tennessee. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press. 328 pp.

Régnier, Claire, Fontaine, Benoît and Bouchet, Philippe. (2009). Not Knowing, Not Recording, Not Listing: Numerous Unnoticed Mollusk Extinctions. Conservation Biology 23(5): 1214-1221. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01245.x  [Appendix S1-S2]

Turgeon, D. D., Quinn, J. F., Jr., Bogan, A. E., Coan, E. V., Hochberg, F. G., Lyons, W. G., Mikkelsen, P. M., Neves, R. J., Roper, C. F. E., Rosenberg, G., Roth, B., Scheltema, A., Thompson, F. G., Vecchione, M. and Williams, J. D. (1998). Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: Mollusks. 2nd Edition. American Fisheries Society Special Publication 26, Bethesda, Maryland: 526 pp.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (1985). Recovery Plan for the Tubercled‑blossom Pearly Mussel Epioblasma (Dysnomia) torulosa torulosa (Rafinesque, 1820); Turgid‑blossom Pearly Mussel Epioblasma (Dysnomia) turgidula (Lea, 1858) and Yellow‑blossom Pearly Mussel Epioblasma (Dysnomia) florentina florentina. Atlanta, GA. 42 pp.

Watters, G. Thomas and Flaute, C. J. M. (2010). Dams, zebras, and settlements: The historical loss of freshwater mussels in the Ohio River mainstem. American Malacological Bulletin 28: 1-12.

Watters, G. Thomas, Hoggart, Michael A. and Stansbery, David H. (2009). The Freshwater Mussels of Ohio. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 421 pp.

Wells, S. M., Pyle, R. M. and Collins, N. M. (compilers). (1983). The IUCN Invertebrate Red Data Book. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Williams, James D., Bogan, Arthur E., Butler, Robert S., Cummings, Kevin S., Garner, Jeffrey T., Harris, John L., Johnson, Nathan A. and Watters, G. Thomas. (2017). A revised list of the freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionida) of the United States and Canada. Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation 20: 33-58.

Williams, James D., Bogan, Arthur E. and Garner, Jeffrey T. (2008). Freshwater mussels of Alabama and the Mobile Basin in Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. xv + 908 pp.

http://naturalsciences.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/research-collections/Bogan_TN_Endangered_Mollusks.pdf

https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/10366/epioblasma-torulosa-tubercled-blossom

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