Pegias

Pegias is a monotypic genus[2] of freshwater mussels in the family Unionidae. This genus contains the single species Pegias fabula, known commonly as the littlewing pearlymussel.

Pegias
A live individual of Pegias fabula

Critically Imperiled  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Unionida
Family: Unionidae
Genus: Pegias
Simpson, 1900
Species:
P. fabula
Binomial name
Pegias fabula
(I. Lea, 1838)

Distribution

The species is native to the Cumberland and Tennessee River systems in the United States, where it is present in streams in North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.[3] It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

Description

This mussel is up to 3.8 centimeters long by 1.3 wide. The outer surface of the shell is light greenish or dark yellowish, but it is often eroded off, leaving the shell chalky whitish in color.[2]

Threat of extinction

This mussel has been extirpated from most streams where it once occurred, including any in the state of Alabama. There are fewer than 12 remaining populations, most of which contain fewer than 500 individuals.[3]

The main threat to the species is bad water quality, especially due to acidic mine drainage. Other threats include oil and gas exploration, road construction, channeling of the rivers, logging, agriculture, and pesticides.[3]

gollark: OR MUST YOU?
gollark: They are different types. They just aren't consistently treated that way.
gollark: It will also, if you cause infinite recursion, cause out of memory instead of out of call stack errors.
gollark: <@!309787486278909952> Yes.
gollark: The fixed version does char-by-char I/O *and* interprets iteratively to avoid callstack limits.

References
  1. "Pegias fabula". NatureServe. Retrieved 2011-12-02.
  2. USFWS. Pegias fabula Recovery Plan. September 1989.
  3. Pegias fabula. The Nature Conservancy.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.