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MUSSELp Mussel of the Month

The April 2005 Mussel of the Month is Scabies crispata. Scabies is an unfortunately named genus of five species found from southeastern Asia.

Scabies crispata
BMNH 93.2.4.1971-13. Cochin, China.
(type of U. mandarinus Morelet, 1863).

We know very little about Scabies crispata except that it belongs to the family Unionidae; its affinities within that family have not been evaluated phylogenetically. S. crispata has unhooked glochidia and broods its larvae in all four demibranchs ("gills").

Classification:

Phylum Mollusca
Class Bivalvia
Subclass Palaeoheterodonta
Order Unionoida

Superfamily Unionoidea Rafinesque, 1820

Family Unionidae s.s.

Genus Scabies Haas, 1911

Species Scabies crispata (Gould, 1843)

For more information, check out the following:
  • Woodward, F.R. 1969. The morphology of Ensidens ingallsianus (Lea, 1852) and Scabies crispata (Gould, 1843). Vidensk Meddr dansk naturh. Foren 132: 49-62.
  • Brandt, R.A.M. 1974. The non-marine aquatic Mollusca of Thailand. Archiv für Molluskenkunde 105(1-4):1-423.

To see past MUSSELp Mussels of the Month, go to the MOM Archive.

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Page last updated 1 April 2005.