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Epioblasma metastriata (Conrad, 1838)

Upland combshell

 

 

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonyms: Unio metastriatus Conrad, 1838; Dysnomia (Penita) metastriata (Conrad, 1838); Dysnomia (Truncillopsis) metastriata (Conrad, 1838); Dysnomia metastriata (Conrad, 1838); Truncilla (Truncilla) metastriata (Conrad, 1838); Truncilla metastriata (Conrad, 1838); Dysnomia metastriata Conrad, 1840 [incorrect year]; Epioblasma metastriata (Conrad, 1840) [incorrect year]; Unio compactus I. Lea, 1859; Margaron (Unio) compactus (I. Lea, 1859); Truncilla compacta (I. Lea, 1859)

 

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

 

Conservation Status

Extinct (NatureServe, 2025)

Last record: 1986 (NatureServe, 2025); 1988 (NatureServe, 2014)

IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered

 

Distribution & Habitat

Alabama, Georgia & Tennessee, USA

 

Biology & Ecology

 

 

Hypodigm

 

 

Media

 

 

References

Original scientific description:

Conrad, T. A. (1835-1838). Monography of the family Unionidae, or naiades of Lamarck, (fresh water bivalve shells), of North America, illustrated by figures drawn on stone from nature. Philadelphia: Dobson. 1: 1-12, pls 1-5 [1835]; 8: 65-72, pls. 36-40 [1837]; 10: 81-94, pls 46-51 [1838]; 11: 95-102, pls 52-56 [1838].

 

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

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

Conrad, T. A. (1840). Monography of the Family Unionidae, or naiades of Lamarck, (fresh water bivalve shells) or North America, illustrated by figures drawn on stone from nature 2(12): 103-110, pls. 57-60. Philadelphia: J. Dobson.

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 2 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.

Haag, Wendell R. (2019). Reassessing enigmatic mussel declines in the United States. Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation 22(2):43-60.

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

Hurd, J. C. (1974). Systematics and zoogeography of the Unionacean mollusks of the Coosa River drainage of Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Auburn University. Ph.D. dissertation. 240 pp., 10 tables, 6 fig., + 63 maps.

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

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.

Lea, Isaac. (1859). Descriptions of two new species of uniones, from Georgia. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 9: 154. [after 31 May 1859]

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

Mirarchi, R. E., et al. (2004a). 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.

Mirarchi, R. E., Garner, J. T., Mettee, M. F. and O'Neil, P. E. (2004b). Alabama wildlife. Volume 2. Imperiled aquatic mollusks and fishes. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. xii + 255 pp.

MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Epioblasma metastriata (Conrad, 1838). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=857298 on 2025-07-02

NatureServe. (2014). NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. Version 7.1. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available http://explorer.natureserve.org. (Accessed: January 29, 2015).

NatureServe. (2025). Epioblasma metastriata: Upland Combshell. NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer [web application]. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available at: https://explorer.natureserve.org/ [Accessed 2 July 2025]

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.

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.

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). (1993). Endangered status for eight freshwater mussels and threatened status for three freshwater mussels in the Mobil River drainage. Final rule. Federal Register, 58(60): 14330-14340.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). (1997). Draft Recovery Plan for the Mobile River basin aquatic ecosystem. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta, Georgia.

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.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). (2003). Endangered and Threatened Widlife and plants; proposed designation of critical habitat for three threatened mussels and eight endangered mussels in the Mobile River basin; proposed rule. Federal Register, 68(58): 14752-14832.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). (2004). Endangered and Threatened Widlife and plants; designation of critical habitat for three threatened mussels and eight endangered mussels in the Mobile River basin; final rule. Federal Register, 69(126): 40083-40171.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). (2008). Fine-lined pocketbook (Hamiota (=Lampsilis) altilis), orange-nacre mucket (Hamiota (=Lampsilis) perovalis), Alabama moccasinshell (Medionidus acutissimus) Coosa moccasinshell (Medionidus parvulus), Southern clubshell (Pleurobema decisum), dark pigtoe (Pleurobema furvum), southern pigtoe (Pleurobema georgianum), ovate clubshell (Pleurobema perovatum), triangular kidneyshell (Ptychobranchus greenii), upland combshell (Epioblama metastriata), and southern acornshell (Epioblasma othcaloogensis), 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation. Jackson, MS. 37pp.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). (2018). Upland Combshell (Epioblasma metastriata), Southern Acornshell (Epioblasma othcaloogensis). 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast Region, Alabama Ecological Services Field Office, Daphne, Alabama. 15 pp.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). (2021). Removal of 23 Extinct Species From the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. Proposed Rule. Federal Register 86(187): 54298-54338.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). (2023). Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of 21 Species From the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. Final rule. Federal Register 88(199):71644-71682.

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. and Hughes, M. H. (1998). Freshwater mussels of selected reaches of the main channel rivers in the Coosa drainage of Georgia. U.S. Geological report to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, Alabama. 21 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

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

http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/speciesProfile.action?spcode=F02F

https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/10374/epioblasma-metastriata-upland-combshell

 

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