Northern riffleshell

Northern riffleshell
Epioblasma torulosa rangiana
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Order:	Unionoida
Family:	Unionidae
Genus:	Epioblasma
Species:	E. torulosa
Subspecies:	E. t. rangiana
Trinomial name
Epioblasma torulosa rangiana (I. Lea, 1838)

The northern riffleshell, scientific name Epioblasma torulosa rangiana, is a subspecies of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels.

This subspecies is endangered.

This species was formerly found widely in the Ohio River basin, but now the population is fragmented into only three viable groups.

This river mussel needs gravel river beds and swift-flowing, well-oxygenated water. The reduction in range seems to be principally due to damming and the consequential silting up of rivers below the dam and competition from zebra mussels.^[2]

Distribution and conservation status

This species lives in Ontario in Canada. It was classified as endangered by COSEWIC. The Canadian Species at Risk Act listed it in the List of Wildlife Species at Risk as being endangered in Canada.^[3]

References

1. ^ Bogan (2000). Epioblasma torulosa ssp. rangiana. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this subspecies is critically endangered and the criteria used
2. ^ Report from NatureServe Explorer
3. ^ COSEWIC. 2005. Canadian Species at Risk. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. 64 pp., page 13.