"Claibornensis" refers to Claiborne on the Alabama River, Alabama. Lea
never visited Alabama, but Judge Tate in Claiborne sent him material at
several times.
 
Conrad's published localities are sometimes confused, for reasons that are
now hard to discern. Wheeler's biography of Conrad includes a detailed
reconstruction of his journeys in Alabama, which shows that his main
collections were at:
 
1. Prairie Bluff, Alabama River, Wilcox County
2. Claiborne, Alabama River and Randon's Creek, Monroe County
3. Various points in Clarke County, especially along the road from
Claiborne to Grove Hill
4. Erie, Black Warrior River, Hale County. Erie no longer exists, but was
southeast of Eutaw.
5. Various points from Tuscaloosa north to the Tennessee Valley
 
He was also given material from other localities, including Tate's
plantation in Wilcox County. I am somewhat surprised to hear that his
Lampsilis straminea occurs along the Fall Line rather than near Claiborne,
where Conrad sojourned at Judge Tate's residence for several months,
collecting fossil mollusks from the bluff, which is one of the world's best
Eocene sites. By the way, Tate's house still stands--the only house in
Claiborne to survive its abandonment after the coming of the railroads made
most river ports redundant. It is known today as the Dellet House.
 
So, here's my question for Tom Watters. The distributions of freshwater
mollusks have changed since the 1830's, and I particularly draw your
attention to the fact that the rapids at Claiborne (and elsewhere) were
removed in the 19th century to aid navigation, incidentally changing the
environment. Is it possible that L. straminea straminea could be found in
the Claiborne area in the 1830's, or is this just another case of Conrad's
localities getting confused between collection and publication? How would
we ever know for sure? Is this sort of thing common in early works on
freshwater malacology?
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama