Epioblasma turgidula (Lea, 1858)
Turgid blossom, Turgid blossom pearly mussel, Turgid riffleshell, Turgid-blossom naiad
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Dysnomia turgidula Lea, 1858
Conservation Status
Extinct (Bogan, 2000b; Régnier et al., 2009; Cowie et al., 2017; Graf & Cummings, 2021, 2025; NatureServe, 2025)
Last record: 1972 (NatureServe, 2025)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution & Habitat
Alabama, Arkansas & Tennessee, USA
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Lea, Isaac. (1858). Descriptions of new species of Unio, from Tennessee, Alabama and North Carolina. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 10: 40-41. [after 30 March; before 19 April]
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 turgidula. 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 turgidula. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2000: e.T7890A12862264. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T7890A12862264.en. Downloaded on 26 June 2021.
Bogan, Arthur E. and Parmalee, Paul W. (1983). Tennessee's Rare Wildlife. Volume II: The Mollusks. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Cowie, Robert H., Régnier, Claire, Fontaine, Benoît, and Bouchet, Philippe. (2017). Measuring the Sixth Extinction: what do mollusks tell us? The Nautilus 131(1): 3-41.
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.
Harris, J. L. and Gordon, M. E. (1987). Distribution and status of rare and endangered mussels (Mollusca: Margaritiferidae, Unionidae) in Arkansas. Proceedings of the Arkansas Academy of Science, 41: 49-56.
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.
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 turgidula (I. Lea, 1858). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=857307 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 29, 2015).
NatureServe. (2025). Epioblasma turgidula: Turgid Blossom. NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer [web application]. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available at: https://explorer.natureserve.org/ [Accessed 4 July 2025]
Parmalee, P. W. and Bogan, Arthur E. (1998). The Freshwater Mussels of Tennessee. University of Tennessee Press: Knoxville, Tennessee. 328 pp.
Pilsbry, H. A. and Rhoads, S. N. (1896). Contributions to the ecology of Tennessee no.4: Mollusks. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 48: 487-506.
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]
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). (1985). Recovery plan for tubercled-blossom pearly mussel Epioblasma (= Dysnomia) torulosa torulosa (Rafinesque, 1820), turgid-blossom pearly mussel Epioblasma (= Dysnomia) turdigula (Lea, 1858), and yellow-blossom pearly mussel Epioblasma (= Dysnomia) florentina florentina (Lea, 1857). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, Georgia. 39 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/10369/epioblasma-turgidula
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