| Pleurobema taitianum | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
 Endangered (IUCN 3.1) | |
 Critically Imperiled (NatureServe) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Bivalvia |
| Order: | Unionida |
| Family: | Unionidae |
| Genus: | Pleurobema |
| Species: | P. taitianum |
| Binomial name | |
| Pleurobema taitianum (I. Lea, 1834) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Pleurobema taitianum, the heavy pigtoe or Judge Tait's mussel, is a species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels.
This species is endemic to the United States. Previously found in the Tombigbee, Alabama, Coosa and Cahaba and possibly the Black Warrior rivers, it is now found only in the Alabama/Coosa River. It may already be extinct, as no evidence of recruitment was found in a 2010 survey. It is a federally endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. It received federal protection in 1987 after construction of the Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway isolated it in a bypassed meander of the Tombigbee River. At the time it was also believed to survive in the Buttahatchie, East Fork Tombigbee and Sipsey rivers, all tributaries of the Tombigbee. It was threatened in the East Fork Tombigbee by total diversion of its Bull Mountain Creek tributary into a warm-water canal, likely altering East Fork water temperature, and in the others by various U.S. Army Corps of Engineers improvement projects.
References
- Cummings, K.; Cordeiro, J. (2012). "Pleurobema taitianum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012: e.T17671A1443931. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012.RLTS.T17671A1443931.en. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- ^ NatureServe (2 June 2023). "Pleurobema taitianum". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
- "Pleurobema taitianum (I.Lea, 1834)". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
- ^ Stewart, James H.; Pulliam III, John J.; Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior (7 April 1987). "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Status for Marshall's Mussel (Pleurobema marshalli), Curtis's Mussel (Pleurobema curtum), Judge Tait's Mussel (Pleurobema taitianum), the Stirrup Mussel (Quadrual stapes), and the Penitent Mussel (Epioblasma (=Dysnomia) penita)". Federal Register. 52 (66): 11162–11169. 52 FR 11162
- Stewart, James H. (25 September 2019) . "Recovery Plan for the Endangered Heavy Pigtoe (Pleurobema taitianum)" (PDF). Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
- "Heavy pigtoe (Pleurobema taitianum)". Environmental Conservation Online System. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
| Taxon identifiers | |
|---|---|
| Pleurobema taitianum | |
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