Critically Endangered
Winged mapleleaf
Quadrula fragosa
Winged mapleleaf is a bivalve in the family Unionidae (order Unionida) — Quadrula fragosa, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
The anterior end of the Winged mapleleaf shell is slightly rounded and the posterior end of the shell is more of a square shape. The shell can range in color from a yellowish-green to light or dark brown. The inside of the shell is white, and there is sometimes iridescent coloring at one end of the shell.
The diameter of a mature mussel of this species is usually about 4 inches (10.2 cm).
Range and habitat
The winged mapleleaf is found in medium to large streams and rivers. It can sometimes be found in the mud, but it is more commonly either found in gravel or sandy bottoms. At one time the winged mapleleaf could be found in thirteen states. It lived in nearly all the rivers and streams that flow into the Mississippi River.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Freshwater mussels bury in the bed and live for decades if the river still runs and the host fish still spawn.
In crisis
It is a federal critically endangered river mussel species. The winged mapleleaf currently faces a number of different threats to its survival. Sediment accumulation and loss of water quality are also major threats to the population of the mussel.
The reproducing population in the St. The biggest issue that the mussel currently faces right now is that there is only one known reproducing population.
Winged mapleleaf is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Winged mapleleaf, Wikidata item Q3015792. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
