Pleurobema curtum (I. Lea, 1859)

Black clubshell, Curtus's mussel

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Conservation Status

Missing (Cummings & Cordeiro, 2012; Cowie et al., 2017; NatureServe, 2025) or Extinct (Suckling et al., 2004)

Last record: mid-1980's; 1990 (Suckling et al., 2004; Cummings & Cordeiro, 2012); 1992 (Williams et al., 2008 fide NatureServe, 2025)

IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct)

Distribution & Habitat

Alabama & Mississippi, USA

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Lea, Isaac. (1859). Descriptions of eight new species of Unionidae, from Georgia, Mississippi and Texas. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 11: 112-113. [10 May 1859]

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.

Cummings, Kevin S. and Cordeiro, J. (2012). Pleurobema curtum. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 19 February 2013.

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.

Haag, W. R. (2004). Black clubshell Pleurobema curtum, p. 29. In: Mirarchi, R., Garner, J. T., Mettee, M. F. and O’Neil, P. E. (eds.). Alabama Wildlife. Volume 2. Imperiled Aquatic Mollusks and Fishes. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press.

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.

Hartfield, P. and Jones, R. (1989). The status of Epioblasma penita, Pleurobema curtum, and P. taitianum in the East Fork Tombigbee River - 1988. Technical Report No. 8. Mississippi Museum of Natural Science.

MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Pleurobema curtum (I. Lea, 1859). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=857361 on 2025-07-06

NatureServe. (2025). Pleurobema curtum: Black Clubshell. NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer [web application]. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available at: https://explorer.natureserve.org/ [Accessed 6 July 2025]

Stansbery, D. H. (1983). The status of Pleurobema curtum (Lea 1859) (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) (unpublished report). 10 pp. + 6 pp. museum records.

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

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (1987). Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; endangered status for Marshall’s Mussel (Pleurobema marshalli), Curtus’ Mussel (Pleurobema curtum), Judge Tait’s Mussel (Pleurobema taitianum), the Stirrup Shell (Quadrual stapes) and the Penitent Mussel (Epioblasma (=Dysnomia) penita). Federal Register 52(66): 11162-11168.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (1989). Recovery plan for five Tombigbee River mussels: Curtus’ pearly mussel (Pleurobema curtum), Marshall’s pearly mussel (Pleurobema marshalli), Judge Tait’s mussel (Pleurobema taitianum), penitent mussel (Epioblasma penita), and stirrup shell (Quadrulla stapes). USFWS Region 4, Atlanta, GA. 18 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, 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.

https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/10381/pleurobema-curtum-black-clubshell

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