Page 211 - The Freshwater Mussels of Oklahoma

Partial Synonymy:
Lampsilis iris (I. Lea, 1829), Simpson 1914
Villosa iris iris (I. Lea, 1829), Oesch 1984; Watters 1995
Villosa iris (I. Lea, 1829), Valentine and Stansbery 1971; Johnson 1980;
Branson 1984; Turgeon and others 1988; Williams and others 1992;
Vidrine 1993
Description:
“Shell long elliptical or long ovate, inequilateral, subinflated, with a low, rounded
posterior ridge; beaks low compressed, sculptured with very irregular, broken ridges
which show a tendency to be doubly looped; surface covered with rather faint, irregular
growth lines, pale yellowish or greenish-yellow, marked with numerous, wide or narrow,
broken rays; left valve with two rather stumpy, small pseudocardinals and two small,
lamellar laterals; right valve with one pseudocardinal, with usually a very faint,
compressed one above it, and one lateral; beak cavities shallow, with a few dorsal scars;
muscle scars shallow, the posterior nearly circular; nacre bluish, somewhat iridescent
behind, slightly thicker in front. The male shell is nearly evenly long ovate, often ending
behind in a slight, narrow biangulation about midway up the shell; the female shell is
slightly pointed behind midway up and has a moderate, rounded marsupial swelling, and
is generally smaller than that of the male” (Simpson 1914, p 113-114).
Hosts for Glochidia:
Largemouth Bass, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass, Suwanee Bass,
Western Mosquitofish (Watters, 1994).
Comments:
This population is quite separate from other populations of V. iris and may
represent a related but undescribed species.

Table 41. Summary of V. iris shell characters.

Maximum
Mean H/L H/L Range Length Mean W/L W/L Range
Location N (%) (%) (mm) (%) (%)
Red River System
Mountain Fork River 50 57.7 51.7-63.0 68 37.6 32.7-45.8
Glover River 16 57.1 54.2-60.0 68 36.1 32.7-41.9
Little River 52 55.8 51.0-60.5 67 34.6 28.8-39.6
(Pushmataha Co.)
Pine Creek Reservoir 19 55.5 51.9-59.5 52 35.8 31.6-39.2
(Little River)
Black Fork Creek 16 55.9 50.8-60.5 67 37.0 33.3-39.5
(Little River drainage)
Kiamichi River 3 58.3 55.9-61.2 59 - 35.6
(LeFlore Co.)

General Distributon:
Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes drainages.
Oklahoma Distribution:
Found only in the Little, Glover and Mountain Fork Rivers in far southeastern
Oklahoma.

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