Page 158 - The Freshwater Mussels of Oklahoma

Partial Synonymy:
Quadrula cylindrica cylindrica (Say, 1817), Turgeon and others 1988; Watters
1995
Quadrula cylindrica (Say, 1817), Simpson 1914; Isely 1925; Murray and Leonard
1962; Johnson 1980; Branson 1982; Oesch 1984; Vidrine 1993
Description:
“Shell much elongate; inflated and having parallel dorsal and ventral lines so that
it is almost cylindrical, inequilateral, solid; beaks rather full and elevated, turned forward
over a deep, wide lunule, their sculpture a few irregular, strong ridges that are nodulous
on the posterior ridge; posterior ridge full, rounded; above it there is usually a wide,
radial impression that sometimes ends in a slight sinus behind; anterior end rounded,
subangular above; posterior end squarely or obliquely truncate; sometimes there is a point
behind below the median line; surface with irregular, concentric sculpture, having a row
of knobs extending along the posterior ridge and often more or less covered with
lachrymous nodules and plications; epidermis straw-color, tawny, yellowish-green or
greenish-yellow, generally overlaid with a pattern of triangular, green blotches, these are
sometimes developed into radial stripes as if they had been painted on and had drizzled
down; sometimes the green blotches are so close that they are only separated by narrow,
greenish-yellow, zigzag lines, the whole smooth and somewhat shining; Pseudocardinals
radially split up; laterals long and straight; anterior scars impressed; beak cavities deep,
compressed; nacre silvery white, rarely purplish, iridescent and much thinner behind”
(Simpson 1914, p 832-833).
Hosts for Glochidia:
Reported for Q. cylindrica strigillata: Bigeye Chub, Spotfin Shiner, Whitetail
Shiner (Watters, 1994).

Table 29. Summary of Q. cylindrica shell characters.

Maximum
Mean H/L H/L Range Length Mean W/L W/L Range
Location N (%) (%) (mm) (%) (%)
Arkansas River System
Verdigris River 2 43.1 40.0-46.1 95 - -
Red River System
Little, Mountain Fork 9 43.2 40.0-45.8 103 35.5 31.0-38.8
and Glover Rivers

General Distribution:
Upper Mississippi River and parts of eastern Great Lakes drainage.
Oklahoma Distribution:
Currently found only in the Illinois River and the lower Little River system.
Formerly existed in the northeastern rivers of the state.

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