2006. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 115(2) :103–109 CURRENT STATUS OF FRESHWATER MUSSELS (ORDER UNIONOIDA) IN TH E WABASH RIVER DRAINAGE OF INDIAN A Brant E . Fisher: Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Atterbury Fish & Wildlife Area, 7970 South Rowe Street, P .O. Box 3000, Edinburgh, Indiana 46124 USA ABSTRACT . Seventy-five species of freshwater mussels (Order Unionoida) have historically inhabited the Wabash River drainage of Indiana . Nine of these species have always been restricted to Wabash Rive r tributaries and never maintained reproducing populations in the mainstem Wabash River . Of the 66 re- maining species, 18 are currently considered extirpated from the entire drainage and 18 maintain repro - ducing populations only in Wabash River tributaries . Currently, 30 species maintain reproducing popula - tions in the mainstem Wabash River, which represents a 55% reduction in its freshwater mussel fauna . To date, the entire Wabash River drainage of Indiana has seen a 24% reduction in its freshwater mussel fauna. Keywords : Freshwater mussels, Wabash Rive r The freshwater mussel (Order Unionoida) mussels in the Wabash River drainage of Il- fauna of the Wabash River drainage has bee n linois . well documented historically . Stein (1881) at - Many of the larger tributaries of the Wa- tempted the first complete list of the `mollus- bash River have also had recent survey wor k cous fauna of Indiana, and referenced many completed (from upstream to downstream) : species as inhabiting the Wabash River and its Salamonie River (Ecological Specialists, Inc . tributaries. Call (1894, 1896, 1897, 1900) , 1995), Mississinewa River (Ecological Spe- Blatchley Daniels (1903), Daniels (1903 , cialists, Inc . 1995), Eel River (upper Wabash 1915), and Goodrich van der Schalie (1944 ) River) (Henschen 1987), Tippecanoe Rive r continued to add to the knowledge of Indi- (Cummings Berlocher 1990 ; Cummings e t anas mollusca fauna and provided invaluable al. 1992 ; Ecological Specialists, Inc . 1993 , information on those species found in the Wa- 1998 ; Ball Schoenung 1996 ; Common - wealth Biomonitoring 2005 ; EnviroScienc e bash River drainage . 2006), Middle Fork Wildcat (Henschen 1990) , Three important Wabash River studies wer e small streams of Tippecanoe County (Myers - completed during the 1960s and 1970s . Meyer Kinzie et al . 2001), Jordan Creek (Szafoni et (1968) and Krumholz et al . (1970) studied the al. 2000), Sugar Creek (middle Wabash Rive r commercially valuable species of the Wabas h tributary) (Lewis 1991), Brouilletts Creek and White rivers . Clark (1976) inventoried (Tiemann 2005), East Fork White River drain - mussels from the lower Wabash River. age (Cummings et al . 1992; Ball Schoen- Between 1987 and 1991, Cummings et al. ung 1996 ; Harmon 1998 ; Clarke et al . 1999 ; (1992) sampled 100 sites in the Wabash Rive r EnviroScience 2006), West Fork White Rive r drainage, including 53 sites on the mainste m drainage (Cummings et al . 1992; Henschen Wabash River. Several of the lower Wabas h 1993, 1995 ; L. Bowley, Muncie Bureau of River sites sampled by Cummings et al . Water Quality pers. comm .), and Patoka River (1992) were re-sampled in 1996 by Franklan d (Ecological Specialists, Inc. 2001). Figure 1 (1996) . Ball Schoenung (1996.an) d illustrates the recent collections cited here , EnviroScience (2006) intensively sample d which include samples from 1987-2004 . freshwater mussels at several locations in the In addition to this information, the Wildlife upper mainstem Wabash River. Page et al . Diversity Section, Division of Fish and Wild - (1992) and Cummings Mayer (1997) pro- life, Indiana Department of Natural Resourc- vide information on the status of freshwater es, collected freshwater mussel information 103 104 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENC E Figure 1 .—Freshwater mussel sample location s Figure 2.—Freshwater mussel sample locations reported from cited literature for the Wabash Rive r reported from cited literature and collected by th e drainage, Indiana (1987-2004). Wildlife Diversity Section, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, for the Wabash River drainage , Indiana (1987-2006) . from nearly 900 sites within the Wabash Rive r drainage between 1995–2006 (Fig . 2) . This in- formation, along with the previously cited sur- veys, was used to determine the current status the stream bottom was searched with hands o r of freshwater mussel species within the Wa- shoed-feet. bash River drainage of Indiana . Live freshwater mussels were identified on- METHOD S site and returned ; representative dead shel l material was retained from most locations. Several different collecting methods wer e Species lists indicating the best condition o f used in the previously cited surveys ; the in- shell material (live, fresh dead, weathere d dividual reports should be reviewed to deter - dead, or subfossil) encountered were prepared mine the specific methods used by those re - . All shell material searchers. for all sampled locations An informal sampling design (Strayer & retained from our sampling efforts is currentl y e Smith 2003) was utilized for most of our sur- vouchered at the Atterbury Fish and Wildlif veys within the Wabash River drainage . Sam- Area, Edinburgh, Indiana . pling locations were chosen to provide infor- Besides the specific freshwater mussel sam- mation from watersheds where few or n o pling described, additional information was previous freshwater mussel surveys had bee n obtained incidentally while completing survey completed. Locations were waded and visu- work for fishes . Notes were made on liv e ally (if possible) and physically searched fo r freshwater mussels and shell material encoun- live freshwater mussels and dead shell mate- tered, although no formal surveys were com- rial . At locations where visibility was limited, pleted. FISHER—MUSSELS OF THE WABASH RIVER 10 5 Table 1 .—Current status of freshwater mussel s Table 1 .—Continued . (Order Unionoida) in the Wabash River drainage of Indiana. Scientific and common names follow Tur- Species Statu s geon et al . (1998) . L = reproducing populations of species still found in mainstem Wabash River an d Lasmigona costata (flutedshell) L its tributaries ; XT = reproducing populations o f Leptodea fragilis (fragile papershell) L species historically found in mainstem Wabash Riv - Leptodea leptodon (scaleshell) X er but now restricted to its tributaries ; T = repro- Ligumia recta (black sandshell) L ducing populations of species always restricted to Ligumia subrostrata (pondmussel) T Wabash River tributaries ; X = species extirpated Megalonaias nervosa (washboard) XT from entire Wabash River drainage . Obliquaria reflexa (threehorn wartyback) L Obovaria olivaria (hickorynut) L Obovaria retusa (ring pink) Species Statu s X Obovaria subrotunda (round hickorynut) XT Family Margaritiferidae Plethobasus cicatricosus (white warty- Cumberlandia monodonta (spectaclecase) X back) X Plethobasus cooperianus (orangefoot Family Unionidae pimpleback) X Actinonaias ligamentina (mucket) L Plethobasus cyphyus (sheepnose) XT Alasmidonta marginata (elktoe) L Pleurobema clava (clubshell) XT Alasmidonta viridis (slippershell mussel) T Pleurobema cordatum (Ohio pigtoe) XT Amblema plicata (threeridge) L Pleurobema plenum (rough pigtoe) X Anodonta suborbiculata (flat floater) T Pleurobema rubrum (pyramid pigtoe) X Andontoides ferussacianus (cylindrical Pleurobema sintoxia (round pigtoe) L papershell) T Potamilus alatus (pink heelsplitter) L Arcidens confragosus (rock pocketbook) X T Potamilus capax (fat pocketbook) L Cyclonaias tuberculata (purple warty - Potamilus ohiensis (pink papershell) L back) L Ptychobranchus fasciolaris (kidneyshell) XT Cyprogenia stegaria (fanshell) XT Pyganodon grandis (giant floater) L Ellipsaria lineolata (butterfly) XT Quadrula cylindrica cylindrica (rabbits - Elliptio crassidens (elephantear) XT foot) XT Elliptio dilatata (spike) XT Quadrula fragosa (winged mapleleaf) X Epioblasma flexuosa (leafshell) X Quadrula metanevra (monkeyface) L Epioblasma obliquata perobliqua (white Quadrula nodulata (wartyback) L catspaw) X Quadrula pustulosa pustulosa (pimple- Epioblasma personata (round combshell) X back) L Epioblasma propinqua (Tennessee rif- Quadrula quadrula (mapleleaf) L fleshell) X Simpsonaias ambigua (salamander mus- Epioblasma sampsonii (Wabash riffle - sel) XT shell) X Strophitus undulatus (creeper) L Epioblasma torulosa rangiana (northern Toxolasma lividus (purple lilliput) XT riffleshell) X Toxolasma parvus (lilliput) T Epioblasma torulosa torulosa (tubercled Toxolasma texasiensis (Texas lilliput) T blossom) X Tritogonia verrucosa (pistolgrip) L Epioblasma triquetra (snuffbox) XT Truncilla donaciformis (fawnsfoot) L Fusconaia ebena (ebonyshell) XT Truncilla truncata (deertoe) L Fusconaia flava (Wabash pigtoe) L Uniomerus tetralasmus (pondhorn) T Fusconaia subrotunda (longsolid) X Utterbackia imbecillis (paper pondshell) L Hemistena lata (cracking pearlymussel) X Villosa fabalis (rayed bean) XT Lampsilis abrupta (pink mucket) X Villosa iris (rainbow) XT Lampsilis cardium (plain pocketbook) L Villosa lienosa (little spectaclecase) T Lampsilis fasciola (wavyrayed lampmus- sel) L Lampsilis ovata (pocketbook) L Lampsilis siliquoidea (fatmucket) L RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Lampsilis teres (yellow sandshell) L Lasmigona complanata (white heelsplit- For the purpose of this paper, freshwater ter) L mussel species are considered extirpated i f Lasmigona compressa (creek heelsplitter) T they no longer maintain