Alasmidonta robusta (Carolina Elktoe)

[sebbe67]

Alasmidonta robusta

Extinct mussel from North Carolina and South Carolina.

A. robusta was only ever known from the type specimens and was listed as Critically Endangered in 1996 (Baillie and Groombridge 1996) due to uncertainty about whether surveys had been carried out. More recent information concludes that it is Extinct.

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paratype

www.mcz.harvard.edu/Departments/Mollusks/fig20(3)adam%20(converted).gif

[another specialist]

Red List Category & Criteria EX ver 2.3 (1994)
Year Assessed 2000
Assessor/s Bogan, A.E. (Mollusc Specialist Group)
Evaluator/s Seddon, M.B. (Mollusc Red List Authority)
Justification A. robusta was only ever known from the type specimens and was listed as Critically Endangered in 1996 (Baillie and Groombridge 1996) due to uncertainty about whether surveys had been carried out. More recent information concludes that it is Extinct.
History 1990 - Endangered (IUCN 1990)
1994 - Extinct (Groombridge 1994)
1996 - Critically Endangered (Baillie and Groombridge 1996)

www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php?species=777

[another specialist]

Taxonomic Comments: This species appears valid as Art Bogan (NC Museum of Natural Science) states in August 2004, "we have shells that seem to agree with the type series for the species... [but] do not have live animals that match the sehlls of the type series based on the shell shape and the interdental projection... [and] genetics is till preliminary."

Reasons: Thought to be globally extinct until recent find by John Alderman (29 August 2002) in Poison Fork, Montgomery County, North Carolina ()Sarah Kopplin, North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, February 2003).

IUCN Red List Category: EX - Extinct


American Fisheries Society Status: Possibly Extinct (01Jan1993)


Estimated Number of Element Occurrences Comments: Thought to be globally extinct until Note recent find by John Alderman (29 August 2002) in Poison Fork, Montgomery County, North Carolina ()Sarah Kopplin, North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, February 2003).

obal Range Comments: In Poison Fork, Montgomery County, North Carolina (Sarah Kopplin, North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, February 2003) and formerly Long Creek, a tributary of the Catawba River, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (Adams et al., 1990).

www.natureserve.org/

[surroundx]

www.ncdot.org/doh/preconstruct/tpb/research/download/hwy-0754finalreport.pdf

Have they found live specimens yet?

[surroundx]

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.

[Sebbe]

This species is formerly known from only the type locality at Long Creek, a tributary of the Catawba River, Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina (Adams et al., 1990; Bogan, 2002; Johnson, 1997; Keferl and Shelley, 1988). A specimen found by John Alderman (29 August 2002) in Poison Fork, Montgomery Co., North Carolina is most likely not this species (Harry LeGrand, pers. comm. 2013). Note: this species was not listed in Bogan and Alderman's (2004) field guide to South Carolina freshwater mussels and reports from South Carolina are probably in error. Johnson (1997) summarized the distribution of this species and mentioned no occurrences in South Carolina. It was "rediscovered" in Montgomery Co., North Carolina, but was previously only known from the type locality in Long Creek (also North Carolina).

A specimen found by John Alderman (29 August 2002) in Poison Fork, Montgomery Co., North Carolina is most likely not this species (Harry LeGrand, pers. comm. 2013). An exhaustive survey of 452 localities on 237 different rivers by Keferl and Shelley (1988) revealed no specimens. Clarke (1981: 81-84) based his description on 5 examples from Long Creek, near Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina, collected by Charles M. Wheatley (specimens are in ANSP, and MCZ). Johnson (1997) summarized the distribution of this species and mentioned no occurrences in South Carolina.

explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.113403/Alasmidonta_robusta