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Page last updated
4 September 2019

Mussel of the Month

The September 2019 Mussel of the Month is Sagittunio nasutus. Sagittunio is a genus of four species found in eastern North America.

Sagittunio
USNM 85985. Middletown, Connecticut, USA.

Sagittunio is the last installment of the revision of the old Villosa (and old Ligumia and Venustaconcha). We started this journey with Villosa back in April 2018. Where we had three genera, we now have six: Villosa, Cambarunio, Leaunio, Paetulunio, Ligumia, Sagittunio, and Venustaconcha.

We don’t really have anything new to add to the discussion except the picture above, so we will just reprint the summary of how the taxonomy changed from then to now and leave it at that.

THEN
Villosa villosa
Villosa amygdalum
Villosa delumbis
Villosa vibex
Villosa iris
+
(new)
Villosa nebulosa
+
Villosa sima
Villosa taeniata
Villosa lienosus
Villosa ortmanni
(new)
Villosa umbrans
Villosa vanuxemensis
Villosa fabalis
Ligumia recta
Ligumia nasuta
Ligumia subrostrata
Villosa aldermani
Villosa vaughniana
Venustaconcha ellipsiformis
Venustaconcha pleasii
Venustaconcha trabalis
Venustaconcha troostensis
Villosa constricta

NOW
Villosa villosa
Villosa amygdalum
Villosa delumbis
Villosa vibex
Cambarunio iris
Cambarunio dactylus
Cambarunio hesperus
Cambarunio nebulosa
Cambarunio jonesii
Cambarunio simus
Cambarunio taeniatus
Leaunio lienosus
Leaunio ortmanni
Leaunio pataecus
Leaunio umbrans
Leaunio vanuxemensis
Paetulunio fabalis
Ligumia recta
Sagittunio nasutus
Sagittunio subrostratus
Sagittunio aldermani
Sagittunio vaughnianus
Venustaconcha ellipsiformis
Venustaconcha pleasii
Venustaconcha trabalis
Venustaconcha troostensis
Venustaconcha constricta

Classification:

Phylum Mollusca
Class Bivalvia
Subclass Palaeoheterodonta
Order Unionoida

Superfamily UNIONOIDEA Rafinesque, 1820
Family UNIONIDAE s.s.
Subfamily AMBLEMINAE s.s.
Tribe LAMPSILINI Ihering, 1901

Genus Sagittunio Watters, 2018

Species Sagittunio nasutus (Lea, 1840)

To find out more about Sagittunio and the other genera split from the Old Villosa, check out:
  • Kuehnl, K.F. 2009. Exploring levels of genetic variation in the freshwater mussel genus Villosa (Bivalvia Unionidae) at different spatial and systematic scales: Implications for Biogeography, Taxonomy, and Conservation. Dissertation, The Ohio State University. 261 pp.
  • Watters, G.T. 2018. A preliminary review of the nominal genus Villosa of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia, Unionidae) in North America. Visaya, Supplement (10). Conchology, Inc., Lapu-Lapu, Philippines. 140 pp.
  • Williams, J.D., A.E. Bogan, R.S. Butler, K.S. Cummings, J.T. Garner et al. 2017. A revised checklist of the freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionida) of the United States and Canada. Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation 20(2): 33-58.
 
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