Margaritifera auricularia

Last updated

Spengler's freshwater mussel
Margaritifera auricularia shell.jpg
A shell of Spengler's freshwater mussel collected by Fritz Haas in Spain
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Unionida
Family: Margaritiferidae
Genus: Margaritifera
Species:
M. auricularia
Binomial name
Margaritifera auricularia
(Spengler, 1793)
Margaritifera-auricularia-map-eur-nm-moll.jpg
Synonyms

Unio auricularius Spengler, 1793
Pseudunio auricularia (Spengler, 1793)
Pseudunio auricularius auricularius (Spengler, 1793) [2]
Unio sinuata Lamarck, 1819

Contents

Margaritifera auricularia is a species of European freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Margaritiferidae, the freshwater pearl mussels. Formerly found throughout western and central Europe, the species is now critically endangered and is one of the rarest invertebrates worldwide, being confined to a few rivers in Spain and France. [1] [3] M. auricularia is commonly known as Spengler's freshwater mussel in honour of Lorenz Spengler, who first described this species.

Description

Spengler's freshwater mussel, a subfossil valve from the Holocene Scheldt deposits, in Belgium Pseudunio auricularia Holoceen Schelde.jpg
Spengler's freshwater mussel, a subfossil valve from the Holocene Scheldt deposits, in Belgium

Large shells are up to 180 mm in length.

Taxonomy

There are different opinions on the taxonomy of this species.

The species was originally described as Unio auricularius Spengler, 1793.

When it is placed in the genus Margaritifera Schumacher, 1816, it is considered to be:

At other times it is placed in the genus Pseudunio F. Haas, 1910, in which case it is known as:

Sometimes it is given the masculine gender:

Distribution

It is found in:

Ecology

The fish hosts for the glochidium larvae of this species are: Salaria fluviatilis , Gambusia holbrooki , Acipenser baerii , Acipenser naccarii and Acipenser sturio . [5]

The hosts for this species were unknown for a long time: as recently as 1998 they were still not known. [7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Prié, V. (2021). "Margaritifera auricularia". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2021: e.T12798A168840343.
  2. 1 2 Checklist of France. CLECOM. Check List of European COntinental Mollusca. Göteborg Natural History Museum (Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museum). Last change: 23 May 2008. Accessed 5 November 2008.
  3. Soler, Joaquin; Araujo, Rafael; Wantzen, Karl M. (2018). "The Giant Freshwater Pearl Mussel (Margaritifera auricularia) Handbook Volume 1 – Synopsis on the current scientific literature". Tours: University of Tours . Retrieved 13 September 2022 via ResearchGate.
  4. Araujo, Rafael; Ramos, M. A. (1998). "Margaritifera auricularia (Unionoidea, Margaritiferidae), the giant freshwater pearl mussel rediscovered in Spain". Graellsia. 54: 129–130. doi: 10.3989/graellsia.1998.v54.i0.354 . S2CID   82918484 . Retrieved 14 September 2022 via ResearchGate.
  5. 1 2 3 F. Welter Schultes. 2008. Margaritifera auricularia. AnimalBase. Last modified 23 October 2008. Accessed 5 November 2008.
  6. 1 2 Ložek V. 1964. Quartärmollusken der Tschechoslowakei. Rozpravy Ústředního ústavu geologického, Vol. 31, Nakladatelství ČSAV, Praha, volume 31, 374 pp., 32 tables, 4 supplements, page 317. (in German)
  7. Araujo, R. & Ramos, M. A. 1998. Description of the glochidium of Margaritifera auricularia (Spengler, 1793) (Bivalvia, Unionidae). Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society of London B, 353: 1553–1559.

Further reading

Araujo, R., Bragado, D. & Ramos, M. A. 2001. Identification of the river blenny, Salaria fluviatilis, as a host to the glochidia of Margaritifera auricularia. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 67: 128–129.