Pseudunio homsensis (Lea, 1865)

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonyms: Unio homsensis I. Lea, 1865; Margaritifera (Pseudunio) homsensis (I. Lea, 1865); Margaritifera homsensis (I. Lea, 1865); Unio episcopalis Tristram, 1865; Margaritana syriaca Pallary, 1929; Margaritana syriaca var. ponderosa Pallary, 1929

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

Conservation Status

Last record: 1980s (Schutt 1982 cited in Lopes-Lima & Kebapçı, 2014)

Rediscovered in: 2017 or before [date not specified] (Vikhrev et al., 2017)

IUCN RedList status: Endangered

Distribution & Habitat

Lebanon, Syria & Turkey

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Lea, I. (1865). Descriptions of six new species of western Asiatic Unionidae. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 16: 285-286. [after 27 December 1864, before 13 February 1865]

Other references:

Araujo, R., Schneider, S., Roe, K. J., Erpenbeck, D. and Machordom, A. (2016). The origin and phylogeny of Margaritiferidae (Bivalvia, Unionoida): a synthesis of molecular and fossil data. Zoologica Scripta 46(3): 289-307. https://doi.org/10.1111/zsc.12217

Bashê, S. K. (2022). Distribution and phylogenetic of freshwater mussel Unio tigridis Bourguignat, 1852 (Bivalvia, Unionidae) from greater Zab River, Iraq. Bulletin of the Iraq Natural History Museum 17(2): 291-301. https://doi.org/10.26842/binhm.7.2022.17.2.0291

Drouët, H. (1893). Unionidae nouveaux ou peu connus. Journal de Conchyliologie 41: 36-50.

Falkner, G. (1994). Systematik vorderorientalischer Najaden als Vorstudie zur Bearbeitung archaologischer Funde, pp. 135-162. In: Kokabi, M. and Wahl, J. (eds.). Sonderdruck aus Beitrage zur archaozoologie und Prahistorischen Anthropologie. Forsch Ber Vor Fruhgeschichte Baden Wiirttemberg.

Germain, L. (1911). Mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles de l’Asie Antérieure (2e note). Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle 17: 63-67.

Graf, D. L. (2007). Palearctic freshwater mussel (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) diversity and the Comparatory Method as a species concept. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 156: 71-88. https://doi.org/10.1635/0097-3157(2007)156[71:PFMMBU]2.0.CO;2

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. (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 24 June 2025.

Haas, F. (1940). A tentative classification of the Palearctic unionids. Zoological Series of Field Museum of Natural History 24: 115-141.

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

Huang, X.-C., Su, J.-H., Ouyang, J.-X., Ouyang, S., Zhou, C.-H. and Wu, X.-P. (2019). Towards a global phylogeny of freshwater mussels (Bivalivia: Unionida): Species delimitation of Chinese taxa, mitochondrial phylogenomics, and diversification patterns. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 130: 45-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.09.019

Huff, S. W., Campbell, D., Gustafson, D. I., Lydeard, C., Altaba, C. R. and Giribet, G. (2004). Investigations into the phlogenetic relationships of freshwater pearl mussels (Bivalvia: Margaritiferidae) based on molecular data: implication for their taxonomy and biogeography. Journal of Molluscan Studies 70(4): 379-388.

Kinzelbach, R. K. (1987). Faunal history of some freshwater invertebrates of the Northern Levant (Mollusca, Crustacea), pp. 41-46. In: Krupp, F., Schneider, W. and Kinzelbach, R. K. (eds.). Proceedings of the Symposium on the Fauna and zoogeography of the Middle East. Beihefte zum TAVO.

Kinzelbach, R. K. and Roth, G. (1984). Patterns of distribution of some freshwater molluscs of the Levant region. Foliae historiae-naturales Musei Matrensis 9: 115-128.

Kobelt, W. (1893). Iconographie der Land- und Süsswasser-Mollusken, mit vorzüglicher Berücksichtigung der europäischen noch nicht abgebildeten Arten von E.A. Rossmässler 6. 102 pp., pls. 151-180.

Lea, I. (1870). A Synopsis of the Family of Naïades. 184 pp.

Locard, A. (1883). Malacologie des lacs de Tibériade, d’Antioche et d’Homs, Syrie. Archives du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Lyon 3: 195-293.

Lopes-Lima, M., Bolotov, I. N., Do, V. T., Aldridge, D. C., Fonseca, M. M., Gan, H. M., Gofarov, M. Y., Kondakov, A. V., Prié, V., Sousa, R., Varandas, S., Vikhrev, I. V., Teixeira, A., Wu, R.-W., Wu, X., Zieritz, A., Froufe, E. and Bogan, A. E. (2018). Expansion and systematics redefinition of the most threatened freshwater mussel family, the Margaritiferidae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 127: 98-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.04.041

Lopes-Lima, M., Gürlek, M. E., Kebapçi, Ü., ŞerefliŞan, H., Yanik, T. et al. (2021). Diversity, biogeography, evolutionary relationships, and conservation of Eastern Mediterranean freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 163: 107261 (23 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107261

Lopes-Lima , M. and Kebapçı, U. (2014). Margaritifera homsensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T164816A1075484. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T164816A1075484.en. Accessed on 22 June 2025.

Lyubas, A. A., Obada, T. F., Gofarov, M. Y., Kriauciunas, V. V., Vikhrev, I. V., Nicoara, I. N. and Bolotov, I. N. (2019). A taxonomic revision of fossil freshwater pearl mussels (Bivalvia: Unionoida: Margaritiferidae) from Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits of Southeastern Europe. Ecologica Montenegrina 21: 1-16. https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2019.21.1

Modell, H. (1964). Das natürliche system der najaden. Archiv für Molluskenkunde 93: 71-126.

MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Pseudunio homsensis (I. Lea, 1865). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1259935 on 2025-06-22

Nesemann, H. (1993). Zoogeographie und Taxonomie der Muschel-Gattungen Unio Philipsson 1788, Pseudanodonta Bourguignat 1877 und Pseudunio Haas 1910 im oberen und mittleren Donausystem (Bivalvia: Unionidae, Margaritiferidae)(mit Beschreibung von Unio pictorum tisianus n. ssp.). Nachrichtenblatt der Ersten Vorarlberger Malakologischen Gesellschaft 1: 20-40.

Pallary, P. (1929). Première addition à la faune malacologique de la Syrie. Mémoires présentés à l'Institut d'Égypte. 12: 1-43, pls 1-3. Le Caire.

Pallary, P. (1939). Deuxième addition a la faune malacologique de la Syrie. Mémoires de l’Institut d’Égypte 39: 1-141.

Schütt, H. (1983). Die Molluskenfauna der Süsswasser im Einzugsgebiet des Orontes unter Berücksichtigung benachbarter Flusssysteme. Archiv für Molluskenkunde. Frankfurt a. M. 113(1-6): 17-91, 225-228.

Schütt, H. (1987). The molluscs of the Oasis Palmyra, pp. 62-67. In: Krupp F., Schneider, W., Kinzelbach, R. (eds.). Symposium on the fauna and zoogeography of the Middle East.

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Simpson, Charles Torrey. (1914). A descriptive catalogue of the naiades, or pearly fresh-water mussels. Parts I-III. Detroit, Michigan: Bryant Walker. 1540 pp.

Smith, D. G. (2001). Systematics and distribution of the recent Margaritiferidae, pp. 33-49. In: Bauer, G. and Wächtler, K. (eds.). Ecology and evolution of the freshwater mussels Unionoida. Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer.

Tristram, H. B. (1865). Report on the terrestrial and fluviatile mollusca of Palestine. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 33 (2): 530-545. London [October].

Vikhrev, Ilya V., Bolotov, I. N., Altun, A., Gofarov, M. Y., Dvoryankin, G. A., Kondakov, A. V., Ozcan, T. and Ozcan, G. (2017). The revenant: rediscovery of Margaritifera homsensis from Orontes drainage with remarks on its taxonomic status and conservation (Bivalvia: Margaritiferidae). Systematics and Biodiversity 16: 69-80.

Vikhrev, I. V., Makhrov, A. A., Artamonova, V. S., Ermolenko, A. V., Gofarov, M. Y. et al. (2019). Fish hosts, glochidial features and life cycle of the endemic freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera dahurica from the Amur Basin. Scientific Reports 9. 8300 (13 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44752-9

Westerlund, C. A. (1890). Malacozoa Acephala. Fauna der in der Paläarctischen Region (Europa, Kaukasien, Sibirien, Turan, Persien, Kurdistan, Armenien, Mesopotamien, Kleinasien, Syrien, Arabien, Egypten, Tripolis, Tunesien, Algerien und Marocco) Lebenden Binnenconchylien 2(7). 319 pp.

Wu, R., An, J., Chen, R., Ouyang, S. and Wu, X. (2021). Taxonomy, phylogeny and evolution of freshwater mussels (Unionoida: Unionoidea) in China revealed by multilocus phylogenetic analyses and mitochondrial phylogenomics. Journal of Lake Sciences 33(6): 1788-1804. https://doi.org/10.18307/2021.0615

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