Epioblasma arcaeformis (I. Lea, 1831)

Arc-form pearly mussel, Sugarspoon

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonyms: Unio arcaeformis I. Lea, 1831 (basionym); Dysnomia (Penita) arcaeformis (I. Lea, 1831); Dysnomia (Truncillopsis) arcaeformis (I. Lea, 1831); Dysnomia arcaeformis (I. Lea, 1831); Margarita (Unio) arcaeformis (I. Lea, 1831); Margaron (Unio) arcaeformis (I. Lea, 1831); Plagiola arcaeformis (I. Lea, 1831); Truncilla (Truncilla) arcaeformis (I. Lea, 1831); Truncilla arcaeformis (I. Lea, 1831); Unio nexus Say, 1831

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

Conservation Status

Extinct (Bogan, 2000b; Régnier et al., 2009; Cowie et al., 2017; Graf & Cummings, 2021, 2025)

Last record: c.1940 (Bogan, 2000b)

IUCN RedList status: Extinct

Distribution

Alabama/Kentucky/Tennessee, USA

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

3 specimens are in the Illinois Natural History Survey mollusc [url=http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/animals_plants/mollusk/]collection[/url]:

INHS 1287
INHS 20267
INHS 20268

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:

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.

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. (1993). Freshwater bivalve extinctions (Mollusca: Unionoida): A search for causes. American Zoologist 33: 599-609.

Bogan, Arthur E. (2000a). Epioblasma arcaeformis. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 17 July 2011.

Bogan, Arthur E. (Mollusc Specialist Group). (2000b). Epioblasma arcaeformis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2000: e.T7863A12858623. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T7863A12858623.en. Accessed on 14 June 2022.

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

Burch, J. B. (1975). Freshwater unionacean clams (Mollusca: Pelecypoda) of North America. Malacological Publications: Hamburg, Michigan. 204 pp.

Cicerello, R. R., Warren, M. L., Jr., and Schuster, G. A. (1991). A distributional checklist of the freshwater unionids (Bivalvia: Unionoidea) of Kentucky. American Malacological Bulletin, 8(2): 113-129.

Conrad, T. A. (1837). Monography of the Family Unionidae, or naiades of Lamarck, (fresh water bivalve shells) or North America, illustrated by figures drawn on stone from nature 1(8): 65-72, pls. 36-40. Philadelphia: J. Dobson.

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.

Férussac, A. E. J. P. J. F. d'Audebard de. (1835). Sur la Synonymie des Coquilles bivalves de l'Amérique Septentrionale, et Essai d'une Table de Concordance à ce sujet. Magasin de Zoologie 5(59-60): 1-9.

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

Gordon, M. E. and Layzer, J. B. (1989). Mussels (Bivalvia: Unionoidea) of the Cumberland River review of life histories and ecological relationships. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report, 89(15): 1-99.

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.

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.

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

Hanley, Sylvanus. (1843). An illustrated and descriptive catalogue of recent bivalve shells. London: Williams and Norgate. xviii + 1-392, sup. pls. 9-124.

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

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

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

Jay, John C. (1835). Catalogue of Recent shells in the cabinet of John C. Jay, M.D. New York: D. Fanshaw. 55 pp.

Johnson, R. I. (1978). Systematics and zoogeography of Plagiola (= Dysnomia = Epioblasma), an almost extinct genus of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) from middle North America. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 148: 239-321.

Johnson, R. I. (1980). Zoogeography of North American Unionacea (Mollusca: Bivalvia) north of the maximum Pleistocene glaciation. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 149(2): 77-189.

Küster, H. C. (1853). Die Flussperlmuscheln (Unio et Hyria). Systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet von Martini und Chemnitz Fortgesetzt von Hofrath Dr. G. v. Schubert und Professor Dr. J.A. Wagner 9(2): 7-318, + 100 pls.

Lea, Isaac. (1836). A Synopsis of the Family of Naïades. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea and Blanchard / London: John Miller. 59 pp.

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Lea, Isaac. (1870). A Synopsis of the Family of Naïades. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea. 184 pp.

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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 arcaeformis (I. Lea, 1831). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=857290 on 2025-06-30

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Ortmann, A. E. (1925). The naiad-fauna of the Tennessee River system below Walden Gorge. American Midland Naturalist 9(8): 321-372. https://doi.org/10.2307/2992763

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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.

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

https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/10378/epioblasma-arcaeformis-form-pearly-mussel

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