ELLIPSE

Photo by Edwin Miller
used by permission

Federal Status:
None

State Status:
Endangered

• Range:
  Dark Blue = Counties with designated critical habitat
  Light Blue = Historical records
  A detailed range map may be found in the Mussel Bed
• Comments: As a full-grown mussel, the ellipse is still relatively small (3 inches). The straw-colored shell has numerous dark lines called rays that radiate from the umbo (the dorsally raised or inflated portion of the shell). It is a mussel of small, upland Ozark streams. It is found in the Spring and Marmaton rivers in Kansas. The male ellipse shell is narrower in height than the female. The larval form must attach to a host fish or perish. The fish hosts in Kansas are the johnny darter, orange-throat darter and probably the banded sculpin.

Other Gastropods on the Kansas T&E List