Western Range Extension for the Black Sandshell (Unionidae:Ligumia recta[Lamarck, 1819])

Abstract

We report a population of the mussel the black sandshell (Ligumia recta [Lamarck, 1819]) from the Carrot River in Saskatchewan, far north of the species' known range in southern Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Ligumia recta is reported to be declining substantially in its abundance and range, and this occurrence provides valuable information for the construction of a species status report in Canada.

Western range expansion of the black sandshell mussel in Montana /

“…Gangloff and Gustafson (2000) proposed that large portions of Montana's warm-water river reaches may serve as nursery refuges for non-native mussel species that are imperiled elsewhere. More recently, a newly discovered black sandshell population in Canada has extended its range further north and west in the province of Saskatchewan (latitude 53°4 N, longitude 106°00W) (Phillips et al 2009), but the authors do not speculate if this is an introduced population or undetected in prior surveys. Here, we report collections of the black sandshell from three locations on the Missouri (latitude 47°7 N, longitude 110°8 W) and Marias Rivers (latitude 47°9 N, longitude 110°5 W), that are approximately 26 river kilometers west (upstream) of any previously documented Missouri River occurrences and newly reported for the Marias River watershed (Table 1, Fig.…”