Page 99 - The Freshwater Mussels of Oklahoma

1995
Description:
“Shell irregularly long ovate, the dorsal line being generally more nearly straight
than the basal line, very inequilateral, thin to subsolid, rather compressed, with a low
narrowly rounded posterior ridge, slightly winged behind when young, the wing mostly
disappearing in adult shells, gaping at the anterior base and behind; beaks low, rather
compressed, their sculpture consisting of a few very faint, doubly-looped ridges; surface
covered with wide, very uneven, often sulcate, growth lines, greenish, olive-green, or in
old shells brownish, with wide, feeble green rays; epidermis not shining; there is a very
feeble, low tubercle under or in front of the beaks in each valve, but it is sometimes
wholly wanting; left valve with the faintest vestige of one or two remote laterals; right
valve with a stronger single lateral; beak cavities shallow with a row of irregular, large
dorsal scars; anterior adductors long, vertical; posterior adductors large; nacre purple,
bluish or salmon-color, often clouded. The male and female differ but little; those of the
latter have a slightly fuller base, and the rather sharp posterior point is a little higher than
in that of the male” (Simpson 1914, p 188).
Hosts for Glochidia:
Unknown

Table 16. Summary of L. leptodon shell characters.

Maximum
Mean H/L H/L Range Length Mean W/L W/L Range
Location N (%) (%) (mm) (%) (%)
Red River Drainage
Kiamichi River 8 49.1 43.5-52.5 86 27.6 21.7-38.8

General Distributon:
Upper Mississippi and Great Lakes drainages.
Oklahoma Distribution:
Found only in the Kiamichi and Little River systems of southeastern Oklahoma.

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