- Range:
Blue = current range
Hollow circles = former range
A map showing counties with designated critical habitat for this species may be found
the the Kansas Wildlife Refuge
- Status in Kansas:
Endangered
- North American Status:
(From NatureServe)
The species is a regional
endemic that has experienced significant declines in the last 30 years, particularly in
the last 10 years, has been extirpated from a large portion of its range, and is quite
rare throughout most of its remaining range. Most populations are under some threat of
habitat degradation or destruction. Cyprogenia aberti is likely not a monophyletic group
and may comprise 2 and possibly 5 distinct taxa. It was generally considered endemic to
the Ozark and Ouachita mountain ranges of the interior highlands west of the Mississippi
River. It is known historically from the Little Missouri, Saline, Caddo and Ouachita
Rivers (Red River drainage); Spring, Elk, Fall, Caney, Neosho, Verdigris and Shoal Rivers
(Arkansas River drainage); Little Black, Black, Buffalo, Current, Spring, Strawberry, and
White Rivers, and Cane and Castor Creeks (White River drainage); and the St. Francis
River. The species is now extirpated from the Caney, Elk and Neosho rivers, the Oklahoma
portion of the Verdigris and Spring rivers, and from Castor and Cane Creeks, Missouri. The
population in the Little Black River is not viable, although some adults still exist in a
Missouri reach. Occurrences in Arkansas are more viable with populations in at least 8
rivers and locally abundant in 2 or 3. It was recently collected in the Saline River,
Arkansas, after several years of supposed absence. Archaeological remains exist on Big
Sunflower and Yazoo Rivers in Mississippi, but no extant populations.
- Comments:
The western fanshell has a strikingly beautiful shell. Its wide, greenish,
radiating rays give the shell a fanlike appearance. Mound-building Indians evidently
revered this mussel as it has been found in various archeological/burial sites, so it may
have been a prized food item. When gravid, the female fanshell slowly extrudes a white,
worm-like lure (conglutinate) to attract its host fish, most being in the darter family.
The core of this lure is composed of approximately 20,000 infertile eggs whose sole
purpose is to give the lure a “life-like” appearance. The outer areas of the
conglutinate are lined with live glochidia. If this lure is bitten by a host fish, the
hookless glochidia become dislodged and some may successfully attach to the fish’s
gills. The female western fanshell may release up to 30 of these 2-3 inch lures during the
early summer months as fish feeding becomes more active. This mussel lives in gravel beds
under a swift current. It is found in the Fall, Verdigris and Spring rivers but has been
extirpated from the Neosho River.
- Fish Hosts:
fantail, orangethroat and slenderhead darters, logperch and banded sculpin
- See also the GPNC species portrait page
for the Western Fanshell
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