Thomas E. Eichhorst wrote:
>
> Quick question for the freshwater folks.  I have been told there are about
> 300 freshwater mussel species in the US.  Is this right?  How about
> worldwide?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA

Tom,

I'll answer that question if you answer how many land or marine spp. are
there in the United States or world.  The real musselheads of the world
Kevin Cummings and Tom Watters and (I praise Harry Lee by also including
him in this group) can provide more precise data, but here is a start:
The "best" checklist listing, by my count 305 spp. is Common and
Scientific Names of Aquatic Invertebrates from the United States and
Canada: Mollusks. Second Edition.  American Fisheries Society Special
Publication 26.  Edited by Donna D. Turgeon, et. al. 1998. I beleive the
cost is about $60. with CD-ROM.
Non-U.S. numbers are harder to come by.  One reason is because the
speciation of Unionids reached its greatest diversity in North America
(Europe by contrast has about 15 spp of Unionids total)and have been
studied more here, and secondly, unless the Unionids were a source of
pearls or nacre material for the cultured pearl industry, they are
largely ignored by most other than the most dedicated freshwater benthic
invertebrate authorities.
Arthur E. Bogan in American Zoologist (?) vol. 33,"Freshwater Bivalve
Extinction," pp 509-609 did a world wide evaluation but concentrated on
endangered/extinct taxa.  He listed the following as number of recorded
species: Australia, 17 spp; Indian Subcontinent, 52 spp; China and
Southeast Asia: China: 38 spp; Japan mentioned but no number given;
Korea: 10 spp;Thialand, 32 spp; Vietnam 39 spp.  Europe 10 spp. Africa:
28 spp.  Middle East "3 spcies have become extinct in Israel";
South America Uruguay River basin: 21 spp. Paraguay 29 spp. Central
America (Mexico to Panama: 70 spp).
Bogan's work was not meant to be comprehensive on the number of spp.
Bogan mentions Ortmann (1921) but does not disclose there were 69 spp.
listed in that most excellent work.
Hopefully Kevin Cummings will give a farily exact number of spp. for his
work in Venezuela.
Now I am curious also.  What other lists are out there for non U.S.
Unionids??

Alan Gettleman
Merritt Island, FL
PLAN TO ATTEND COA 2001 CONVENTION AT CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA July
7-11,2001.