Germainaia geayi Germain, 1911
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Unio (Nodularia) geayi Germain, 1911 (basionym); Nodularia geayi Germain, 1911; Caelatura (Zairia) geayi Germain, 1911 (comb. nov., Haas, 1969); Coelatura geayi (Germain, 1911)
See Graf & Cummings (2025) for a more complete taxonomic history. Transferred to a newly erected genus Germainaia by (Graf & Cummings, 2009).
Conservation Status
Extinct (Van Damme, 2016; Cowie et al., 2017)
Last record: 1904-1908 (Van Damme, 2016)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution & Habitat
"Madagascar"
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Lectotype: MNHN 1704
Media
For a photograph of the shell see: http://mussel-project.ua.edu/db/db.php?p=div&l=spp&n=1751
References
Original scientific description:
Germain, L. (1911). Les Unionidæ de Madagascar. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle 17: 136-140.
Other references:
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.
Daget J. (1998). Catalogue raisonné des mollusques bivalves d'eau douce africains. Leiden: Backhuys / Paris: Editions de l'ORSTOM. 329 pp.
Fischer-Piette, E. and Vukadinovic, D. (1973). Sur les mollusques fluviatiles de Madagascar. Malacologia 12(2): 339-378.
Germain, L. (1918). Contributions à la faune malacologique de Madagascar: III. Les Pélécypodes fluviatiles de Madagascar. Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle 24: 34-42.
Graf, Daniel L. and Cummings, Kevin S. (2007). Review of the systematics and global diversity of freshwater mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionoida). Journal of Molluscan Studies 73(4): 291-314. https://doi.org/10.1093/mollus/eym029
Graf, Daniel L. and Cummings, Kevin S. (2009). Actual and alleged freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) from Madagascar and the Mascarenes, with description of a new genus, Germainaia. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 158(1): 221-238.
Graf, Daniel L. and Cummings, Kevin S. (2011). Freshwater mussel (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) richness and endemism in the ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar based on comprehensive museum sampling. Hydrobiologia 678: 17-36 + supplemental material. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0810-5
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.
Haas, F. (1969). Superfamilia Unionacea. Das Tierreich 88: x, 1-663. Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin.
Máiz-Tomé, L., Sayer, C. and Darwall, W. (eds.). (2018). The status and distribution of freshwater biodiversity in Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands hotspot. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. viii + 128 pp.
MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Germainaia geayi (Germain, 1911). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1338507 on 2025-07-01
Simpson, Charles Torrey. (1914). A descriptive catalogue of the naiades, or pearly fresh-water mussels. Parts I-III. Detroit, Michigan: Bryant Walker. 1540 pp.
Van Damme, D. (2016). Germainaia geayi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T173096A91286832. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T173096A91286832.en. Downloaded on 03 March 2018.
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/23196/germainaia-geayi
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