Elliptio nigella (I. Lea, 1852:283)

Recovery pearly mussel, Winged spike

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonyms: Unio nigellus I. Lea, 1852; Unio (Elliptio) nigellus I. Lea, 1852; Margaron (Unio) nigellus (I. Lea, 1852); Unio denigratus I. Lea, 1857

See Graf & Cummings (2025) for a more complete taxonomic history.

Conservation Status

Last record: 1958 (Brim Box & Williams, 2000; Williams et al., 2008; Cummings & Cordeiro, 2012)

Rediscovered in: 2008 (Wisniewski et al., 2013b)

IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered

Still listed as Extinct by (Cowie et al., 2017).

Distribution & Habitat

Apalachicola river system, Georgia, USA

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Lea, I. (1852). Descriptions of new species of the family Unionidae. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. (NS) 10(2): 253-294, plates 12-29. [1 June 1852, teste Scudder (1885: 57)]

Other references:

Adams, Henry and Adams, Arthur. (1857). The Genera of Recent Mollusca; Arranged According to their Organization, Vol. II, (31-32): 477-540. London: J. Van Voorst.

Brim Box, J. and Williams, J. D. (2000). Unionid mollusks of the Apalachicola Basin in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Alabama Museum of Natural History Bulletin 21: 1-143.

Burch, J. B. (1975). Freshwater Unionacean Clams (Mollusca: Pelecypoda) of North America. 204 pp.

Clench, W. J. and Turner, R. D. (1956). Freshwater mollusks of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida from the Escambia to the Suwannee River. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 1: 97-239.

Conrad, T. A. (1853). A synopsis of the family of Naïades of North America, with notes, and a table of some of the genera and sub-genera of the family, according to their geographical distribution, and descriptions of genera and sub-genera. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 6: 243-269.

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.

Cummings, K. and Cordeiro, J. (2012). Elliptio nigella. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 06 May 2014.

Frierson, L. S. (1927). A Classified and Annotated Checklist of the North American Niades. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press. 111 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 30 June 2025.

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.

Haas, F. (1969). Superfamilia Unionacea. Das Tierreich 88: x, 1-663. Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin.

Hopper, G. W., Bucholz, J. R., DuBose, T. P., Fogelman, K. J., Keogh, S. M. et al. (2023). A trait dataset for freshwater mussels of the United States of America. Scientific Data 10: 745 (pp. 1-15). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02635-9

Johnson, R. I. (1968). Elliptio nigella, an overlooked unionid from the Apalachicola River system. The Nautilus 82(1): 22-24.

Lea, I. (1857). Descriptions of twenty-seven new species of uniones from Georgia. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 9: 169-172 [171]. [after 30 June 1857, possibly published in 1858]

Lydeard, C., Garner, J. T., Hartfield, P. and Williams, James D. (1999). Freshwater mussels in the Gulf Region: Alabama. Gulf of Mexico Science 17(2): 125-134.

Martin, S. (2009). Fresh find: Students stumble on possible long-lost freshwater mussel. The Log (University of Georgia) . spring 2009:10-11.

MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Elliptio nigella (I. Lea, 1852). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=857282 on 2025-06-30

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]

Simpson, Charles Torrey. (1900). Synopsis of the naiades, or pearly fresh-water mussels. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 22(1205): 501-1044, pl. 18.

Simpson, Charles Torrey. (1914). A descriptive catalogue of the naiades, or pearly fresh-water mussels. Parts I-III. Detroit, Michigan: Bryant Walker. 1540 pp.

Turgeon, D. D., Bogan, A. E., Coan, E. V., Emerson, W. K., Lyons, W. G. et al. (1988). Common and Scientific Names of Aquatic Invertebrates from the United States and Canada: Mollusks. American Fisheries Society Special Publication (16). 277 pp.

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.

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, J. T. (2008). Freshwater mussels of Alabama & the Mobile Basin in Georgia, Mississippi, & Tennessee. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. 908 pp.

Williams, James D., Warren, M. L., Cummings, Kevin S., Harris, J. L. and Neves, R. J. (1993). Conservation status of freshwater mussels of the United States and Canada. Fisheries 18(9): 6-22. https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8446(1993)018%3C0006:CSOFMO%3E2.0.CO;2

Wisniewski, J. M., Rankin, N. M., Weiler, D. A., Strickland, B. A. and Chandler, H. C. (2013a). Occupancy and detection of benthic macroinvertebrates: a case study of unionids in the lower Flint River, Georgia, USA. Freshwater Science 32: 1122-1135.

Wisniewski, J. M., Rankin, N. M., Weiler, D. A., Strickland, B. A. and Chandler, H. C. (2013b). Use of occupancy modelling to assess the status and habitat relationships of freshwater mussels in the Lower Flint River, Georgia, USA. Walkerana 17(1): 24-40.

Wright, B. H. (1888). Check List of North American Unionidae and Other Fresh Water Bivalves. Portland, Oregon: Dorne & Cook, Printers. 8 pp. (un paginated).

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