Harry and innocent bystanders:

Anodonta atra Rafinesque, 1820, was described without illustration and
locality, and the characteristics could fit several anodontines. Although
he mentions the white anterior nacre and iridescent posterior nacre, which
certainly occurs in A. implicata, that feature often occurs in P. grandis,
particularly large ones. Bearing in mind that Sam was describing shells
from the "riviere Ohio," it is more likely in my mind that he had a grandis
variant than the eastern implicata. While cataracta once ranged as far west
as the Tuscarawas River in Ohio, implicata (as you mentioned) is limited to
coastal areas.

Simpson placed Mytilus fucatus Dillwyn, 1817, in the synonymy of Anodonta
cygnea, a European species. I do not have access to Dillwyn... on what do
you base your identification?

PS. The field season here has drawn to an abrupt, rainy, cold end. To all
of the people to whom I owe exchanges - I apologize - I haven't forgotten
you and you won't have to wait much longer!






*****************************************
 G Thomas Watters, PhD
 Ohio Biological Survey &
 Aquatic Ecology Laboratory
 The Ohio State University
 1315 Kinnear Road
 Columbus, OH 43212 USA
 v: 614-292-6170  f: 614-292-0181
******************************************

"The world is my oyster except for months with an 'R' in them" - Firesign
Theater

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he
has to buy a license" - GTW

"Beliefs are more powerful than facts" - Duke Paulus Atreides