New Species Distribution Record for Simpsonaias ambigua (Say) (Salamander Mussel, Bivalvia: Unionidae) in the Harpeth River, Tennessee

Kristin I. Womble^1,*, Gerald R. Dinkins², J. Brian Alford³, and Meredith H. Harris⁴

¹Tennessee Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, Box 5114, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN 38505. ²McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Tennessee, 1327 Circle Park Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996.³Franz T. Stone Laboratory, Ohio Sea Grant College, The Ohio State University, 878 Bayview Avenue, PO Box 119, Put-in-Bay, OH 43456. ⁴Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute, 175 Baylor School Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405. *Corresponding author.

Southeastern Naturalist, Volume 19, Issue 1 (2020): N24–N28

Abstract
Simpsonaias ambigua (Salamander Mussel) is the only North American freshwater mussel known to parasitize an amphibian for reproduction. Prior to this study, the only records of this species from the Cumberland River drainage were from the Stones and Caney Fork River systems, and all records from the Cumberland River drainage are from 1965 or earlier. In 2017, while conducting a survey for freshwater mussels in the Harpeth River, a direct tributary to the Cumberland River, we found 2 fresh-dead Salamander Mussels in Cheatham County, TN, representing the first record of this species from the Harpeth River drainage. Future surveys targeting the specific habit for the Salamander Mussel are recommended to accurately assess its status in the Harpeth River and elsewhere.

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