Epioblasma gubernaculum (Reeve, 1865)

Green blossom pearly mussel, Green-blossom, Green-blossom naiad, Green-blossom pearly mussel, Green riffle shell

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonyms: Unio gubernaculum Reeve, 1865; Dysnomia (Pilea) torulosa gubernaculum (Reeve, 1865); Dysnomia (Torulosa) torulosa gubernaculum (Reeve, 1865); Dysnomia torulosa gubernaculum (Reeve, 1865); Epioblasma torulosa gubernaculum (Reeve, 1865); Truncilla perplexa gubernaculum (Reeve, 1865)

See Graf & Cummings (2025) for a more complete taxonomic history. Elevated to species status by (Williams et al. 2017).

Conservation Status

Extinct (Graf & Cummings, 2021, 2025)

Last record: 1984 (Suckling et al., 2004)

IUCN RedList status: Extinct

Distribution & Habitat

Tennessee & Virginia, USA

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Reeve, L. A. and Sowerby, G. B. II. (1864-1868). Monograph of the genus Unio. In: Conchologia Iconica, or illustrations of the shells of molluscous animals, vol. 16, pls 1-96 and unpaginated text. L. Reeve, London.

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. (1993). Freshwater bivalve extinctions (Mollusca: Unionoida): A search for causes. American Zoologist 33(6): 599-609. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/33.6.599

Bogan, Arthur E. (Mollusc Specialist Group). (2000a). Epioblasma torulosa ssp. gubernaculum. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. (http://ww.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 19 July 2013.

Bogan, Arthur E. (Mollusc Specialist Group). (2000b). Epioblasma torulosa ssp. gubernaculum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2000: e.T7886A12861656. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T7886A12861656.en. Accessed on 04 July 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.

Cummings, K. and Cordeiro, J. (2012). Epioblasma torulosa. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 19 July 2013.

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 1 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.

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

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.

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.

Jones, J. W. (2015). Freshwater mussels of Virginia (Bivalvia: Unionidae): An introduction to their life history, status and conservation. Virginia Journal of Science 66(3): 309-331.

Klymus, K. E., Richter, C. A., Thompson, N., Hinck, J. E. and Jones, J. W. (2020). Metabarcoding assays for the detection of freshwater mussels (Unionida) with environmental DNA. Environmental DNA 3(1): 231-247. https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.166

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

MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Epioblasma gubernaculum (Reeve, 1865). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1048290 on 2025-07-01

Ortmann, A. E. (1918). The nayades (freshwater mussels) of the Upper Tennessee drainage. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 57(6): 521-626.

Ortmann, A. E. (1924). The naiad-fauna of Duck River in Tennessee. American Midland Naturalist 9(1): 18-62.

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

Parmalee, P. W. and Bogan, Arthur E. (1998). The Freshwater Mussels of Tennessee. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press. 328 pp.

Roble, S. M. (2016). Natural Heritage Resources of Virginia: Rare Animals. Natural Heritage Technical Report 16-07. Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond, Virginia. 56 pp.

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.

Stansbery, D. H. (1970). American Malacological Union Symposium: Rare and Endangered Mollusks: 2. Eastern Freshwater Mollusks (I) The Mississippi and St. Lawrence Systems. Malacologia 10(1): 9-22.

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

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) (Ahlstedt, S.). (1982). Agency draft recovery plan for the green-blossom pearly mussel; Epioblasma (= Dysnomia) torulosa gubernaculum (Reeve,1865). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 4, Atlanta, Georgia. 46 pp.

USFWS. (1984). Recovery plan for the Green-Blossom Pearly Mussel; Epioblasma (Dysnomia) torulosa gubernaculum (Reeve, 1865). USFWS Region 4, Atlanta.

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.

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

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

https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/10361/epioblasma-torulosa-gubernaculum

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