Theliderma stapes (I. Lea, 1831)

Stirrupshell, Stirrup shell

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonym/s: Quadrula stapes I. Lea, 1831

Conservation Status

Extinct (Suckling et al., 2004; NatureServe, 2025)

Last record: 1978 (live specimen) (NatureServe, 2025); 1984 (Suckling et al., 2004); 1986?; 1989 (freshly dead) (NatureServe, 2025)

IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered

Distribution

Alabama & Mississippi, USA

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Holotype: USNM 84212

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Lea, I. (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.

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. (1996). Theliderma stapes. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 23 April 2012.

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.

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.

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

Jones, R. L., Slack, W. T. and Hartfield, P. D. (2005). The freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionidae) of Mississippi. Southeastern Naturalist 4(1): 77-92.

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. Theliderma stapes (I. Lea, 1831). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=857489 on 2025-07-06

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).

NatureServe. (2025). Theliderma stapes: Stirrupshell. NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer [web application]. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available at: https://explorer.natureserve.org/ [Accessed 6 July 2025]

Peacock, Evan. (2000). Assessing Bias in Archaeological Shell Assemblages. Journal of Field Archaeology 27(2): 183-196.

Stansbery, D. H. (1980). Comments on naiad mollusks being reviewed for possible addition to the Federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants (unpublished report). 23 pp.

Suckling, Kieran, Slack, Rhiwena and Nowicki, Brian. (2004). Extinct and the Endangered Species Act. Centre For Biological Diversity. 63 pp.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (1987). Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; endangered status fro Marshall’s Mussel (Pleurobema marshalli), Curtus’ Mussel (Pleurobema curtum), Judge Tait’s Mussel (Pleurobema taitianum), the Stirrup Shell (Quadrual stapes) and the Penitent Mussel (Epioblasma (=Dysnomia) penita). Federal Register 52(66): 11162-11168.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (1989). Recovery plan for five Tombigbee River mussels: Curtus’ pearly mussel (Pleurobema curtum), Marshall’s pearly mussel (Pleurobema marshalli), Judge Tait’s mussel (Pleurobema taitianum), penitent mussel (Epioblasma penita), and stirrup shell (Quadrulla stapes). USFWS Region 4, Atlanta, GA. 18 pp.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). (2000). Recovery plan for the Mobile River basin aquatic ecosystem. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta, Georgia. 128 pp.

Williams, J. D. (1982). Distribution and habitat observations of selected Mobile basin unionid mollusks, pp. 61‑85 + 11 fig. In A.C. Miller (ed.). Report of freshwater mollusks workshop, 19‑20 May 1982. U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station Environment Laboratory. Vicksburg, Mississippi. 184 pp.

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, J. D., A. E. Bogan, and J. T Garner. 2008. Freshwater mussels of Alabama & the Mobile Basin in Georgia, Mississippi, & Tennessee. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 908 pages.

Williams, J.D., S.L.H. Fuller, and R. Grace. 1992. Effects of impoundment on freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionidae) in the main channel of the Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers in western Alabama. Bulletin of the Alabama Museum of Natural History, 13:1-10.

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