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Page last updated
Wed 06 Mar 2024

The Freshwater Mussels (Unionoida) of the World (and other less consequential bivalves)

FM(U)otW(aolcb) is the web version of the MUSSEL Project Database. Follow the links to browse the data or use the custom Google search field. Either way, you win!

For each taxon, information is provided regarding habitat, horizon (Recent unless otherwise listed), and diversity. We are actively working on the Recent freshwater mussels, and those are the taxa for which the data are most complete. For other Recent freshwater bivalves, the information largely follows Graf (2013). For other taxa (e.g., marine, fossil), any content is largely incidental.

Search the database pages:

Bivalvia | Unionoida | Unionoidea

family UNIONIDAE Rafinesque, 1820
     67 nominal families as synonyms | cladomics


Global Distribution of the Unionidae. The blue majority of the pie depicts the relative Recent species diversity of the family in the order Unionoida (788 of 992).

The Unionidae is the richest of the six extant freshwater mussel families by far. We currently recognize 788 Recent species (165 genera) worldwide, and there are representatives in each of the six geographical regions. In the no-so-distant past, we punted with regard to the infra-familial arrangement of the Unionidae. The classification has since been updated and is applied here. We currently recognize 6 Recent subfamilies.

subfamily AMBLEMINAE Rafinesque, 1820: 332 Recent species.
17 family-group synonyms | 5 tribes| cladomics
Distribution:
Central America, East Asia, North America.

subfamily UNIONINAE Rafinesque, 1820: 183 Recent species.
18 family-group synonyms | 5 tribes| cladomics
Distribution:
Afrotropics, Central America, East Asia, North America, North Eurasia.

subfamily GONIDEINAE Ortmann, 1916: 165 Recent species.
16 family-group synonyms | 8 tribes, 6 genera| cladomics
Distribution:
East Asia, North America, North Eurasia.

subfamily PARREYSIINAE Henderson, 1935: 104 Recent species.
13 family-group synonyms | 5 tribes| cladomics
Distribution:
Afrotropics, East Asia.

genus Haasodonta McMichael, 1956: 2 Recent species.
1 generic synonym | 2 valid species | cladomics
Distribution: Australasia.

genus Germainaia Graf & Cummings, 2009: 1 Recent species.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics
Distribution: Afrotropics.

subfamily MODELLNAIINAE Brandt, 1974: 1 Recent species.
1 family-group synonym | 1 genus| cladomics
Distribution:
East Asia.

genus Archiparreysia Modell, 1964: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Comptio Liu & Luo, 1978: fossil only.
0 generic synonyms | 2 valid species | cladomics

genus Costanaia MacNeil, 1935: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Eocuneopsis Guo, 1985: fossil only.
2 generic synonyms | 4 valid species | cladomics

genus Eolamprotula Gu [Ku], 1962: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 4 valid species | cladomics

genus Gautieraia Van Damme & Pickford, 2010: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Grafunio Van Damme & Pickford, 2010: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Hadrodon Yen, 1952: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 3 valid species | cladomics

genus Limnoscapha Lindholm, 1932: fossil only.
2 generic synonyms | 2 valid species | cladomics

genus Mujanaia Delevene, Munt, Piñuela & García-Ramos, 2016: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Nkondonaia Van Damme & Pickford, 2010: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Obwerukunio Van Damme & Pickford, 2010: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Palindonaia Modell, 1950: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Paranodonta Kobayashi & Suzuki, 1936: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Plesielliptio Russell, 1934: fossil only.
2 generic synonyms | 10 valid species | cladomics

genus Pliconaias Marshall, 1929: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Protelliptio Russell, 1934: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 3 valid species | cladomics

genus Protopleurobema Delvene & Araujo, 2009: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Pseudobovaria Adam, 1957: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 3 valid species | cladomics

genus Psilounio Guo, 1985: fossil only.
0 generic synonyms | 21 valid species | cladomics

genus Ptychorhynchoideus Modell, 1931: fossil only.
2 generic synonyms | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Qiyangia Chen & Xu, 1980: fossil only.
0 generic synonyms | 2 valid species | cladomics

genus Radioplicata Huang, 1981: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Rhabdotophorus Russell, 1935: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 3 valid species | cladomics

genus Saharella Mongin, 1963: fossil only.
2 generic synonyms | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Sulcatapex Yen, 1946: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Sulcatula Leroy, 1940: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Tamesnella Mongin, 1963: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 2 valid species | cladomics

genus Teruella Mongin, 1965: fossil only.
1 generic synonym | 1 valid species | cladomics

genus Unionelloides Gu [Ku], 1962: fossil only.
5 generic synonyms | 8 valid species | cladomics

genus Vetulonaia Branson, 1935: fossil only.
2 generic synonyms | 3 valid species | cladomics

Page updated: 16:23:12 Wed 06 Mar 2024

 
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