Pleurobema chattanoogaense (Lea, 1858)
Painted clubshell
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonyms: Unio chattanoogaensis I. Lea, 1858 (basionym); Margaron (Unio) chattanoogaensis (I. Lea, 1858); Pleurobema (Pleurobema) chattanoogaensis (I. Lea, 1858); Pleurobema chattanoogaensis (I. Lea, 1858); Pleurobema decisum chattanoogaensis (I. Lea, 1858)
Now considered a synonym of Pleurobema decisum (Williams et al., 2017; Graf & Cummings, 2021, 2025; MolluscaBase eds., 2025).
Conservation Status
Invalid (synonym of Pleurobema decisum) (Williams et al., 2017; Graf & Cummings, 2021, 2025; MolluscaBase eds., 2025)
Rediscovered ["live or freshly dead"] (Campbell et al., 2008:715) or Extinct (Régnier et al., 2009; Cowie et al., 2017), prior to synonymisation (see above)
IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered
Distribution & Habitat
Coosa River, USA (southeastern)
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Lea, Isaac. (1858). Descriptions of twelve new species of uniones and other fresh-water shells of the United States. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 10: 165-166. [after 14 September]
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, A. E. (Mollusc Specialist Group). (2000). Pleurobema chattanoogaense. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2000: e.T17676A7299002. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T17676A7299002.en. Downloaded on 24 May 2016.
Campbell, D. C., Johnson, P. D., Williams, J. D., Rindsberg, A. K., Serb, J. M., Small, K. K. and Lydeard, C. (2008). Identification of 'extinct' freshwater mussel species using DNA barcoding. Mol Ecol Resour. 8(4): 711-724.
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 5 July 2025.
Hilton-Taylor, Craig. (2000). 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Pleurobema decisum (I. Lea, 1831). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=857362 on 2025-07-06
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]
USFWS (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service). (2001). Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants: Review of plant and animal species that are candidates or proposed for listing as endangered or threatened, annual notice of findings on recycled petitions, and annual description of progress on listing actions; proposed rule. Federal Register 66: 54808-54832.
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.
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/19671/pleurobema-chattanoogaense-painted-clubshell
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