17
Hosts: This is a listing of known or
probably reproductive hosts for this
species glochidea.
Habitats used: The habitats that this
species is reported to use in other
states. These may or may not be
relevant to Nebraska but may give
clues on where to look for them.
Distribution: This is a brief
description of this species range in
North America.
Collection notes: Here are comments
about where we have found this
species in Nebraska.
Comments: Here are miscellaneous
comments that may be of interest
regarding this species.
Nomenclature
Each species has two names, the
scientific name and the common name.
The scientific name is the name,
derived from the Latin or Greek,
which identifies a species to the
scientific community. This is useful as
it describes where the critter fits
within the big picture of life on the
planet and allows people who speak
different languages to know what you
are talking about. These names are
not fixed but, rather, are under
constant review and may be changed
as new evidence appears. The
scientific names used in this document
come from two online sources. One is
MolluscaBase
[http://www.molluscabase.org], a
worldwide effort to organize the
names of mollusks.
33
The other is the
Mussel Project Website or MUSSELp
[http://mussel-project.net].
13
The common name is a name that is in
"common" use. Names that were
applied to organisms so that people
could tell each other what they had.
In the case of freshwater mussels,
most of these names were apparently
created by commercial mussel
harvesters in the 1800's. To them, the
difference between a Giant floater and
a Threeridge was important. The
common names used here come out of
"Names of Mollusks, Second
Edition".
47
The Maps
Mussel shell is often rated as to
overall condition when collected. This
is an indicator of the status of the
species in a waterbody. "Live" means
the animal closes it's valves and
squirts water when picked up as in the
photo at right. "Fresh dead" means
shells are in very good condition and
still retain bits of tissue on the inside.
In the maps, Live and Fresh Dead are
combined.
