Echyridella onekaka

Echyridella onekaka
Conservation status
Naturally Uncommon (NZ TCS) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Order:	Unionida
Family:	Unionidae
Genus:	Echyridella
Species:	E. onekaka
Binomial name
Echyridella onekaka (Fenwick & Marshall, 2006) [2]

Echyridella onekaka is a species of freshwater mussel endemic to New Zealand. E. onekaka is an aquatic bivalve mollusc in the family Unionidae, the river mussels.

Taxonomy

The species was first recognised as a distinct species by Mark Fenwick and Bruce Marshall in 2006. It can be distinguished from Echyridella menziesii by a more strongly separated anterior pedal retractor muscle. ^[2]

Distribution

Echyridella onekaka is found exclusively in the north-west of the South Island. ^[3] It is the rarest known freshwater mussel species in New Zealand. ^[4]

References

1. Grainger, Natasha; Collier, Kevin; Hitchmough, Rod; Harding, Jon; Smith, Brian; Sutherland, Darin (May 2014). Conservation status of New Zealand freshwater invertebrates, 2013 (PDF). Wellington, New Zealand: Department of Conservation. p. 17. ISBN   9780478150155 . Retrieved 24 June 2016.
2. Fenwick, Mark C; Marshall, Bruce A (2006). "A new species of Echyridella from New Zealand, and recognition of Echyridella lucasi (Suter, 1905)(Mollusca: Bivalvia: Hyriidae)". Molluscan Research. 26 (2): 69–76.
3. Vennell, Robert (5 October 2022). Secrets of the Sea: The Story of New Zealand's Native Sea Creatures. HarperCollins UK. pp. 38–43. ISBN   978-1-77554-179-0. LCCN   2021388548. Wikidata   Q114871191.
4. Steiner, Konstanze; Dyer, Niamh; Lee, Charles K; Vandergoes, Marcus J; Wood, Susanna A (2022). "Development of a triplex droplet digital polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection of three New Zealand native freshwater mussels (Echyridella) in environmental samples". Environmental DNA. 4 (5): 1065–1077. doi: 10.1002/edn3.302 . ISSN   2637-4943.