Mapleleaf mussel (Quadrula quadrula) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 17

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Collections Examined

Collections of freshwater mussels from Manitoba are limited. The Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature has a small collection deposited by Ernie Watson. This has been examined by William Watkins, one of the authors of this report. A larger research collection is maintained by J. Carney, another author, and this collection is regularly examined. Vouchered specimens from the personal collection maintained by Dr. Eva Pip have been examined. Data from various recent reports (Scaife and Janusz 1992; Watson et al. 1998; Carney 2003a, 2004a, b) are in the process of being compiled in a GIS-linked database by one of the authors (William Watkins).

In 1996, all available historical and recent data on the occurrences of freshwater mussel species throughout the lower Great Lakes drainage basin were compiled into a computerized, GIS-linked database referred to as the Lower Great Lakes Unionid Database. The database is housed at the National Water Research Institute in Burlington, Ontario. Data sources included the primary literature, natural history museums, federal, provincial, and municipal government agencies (and some American agencies), conservation authorities, Remedial Action Plans for the Great Lakes Areas of Concern, university theses and environmental consulting firms. Mussel collections held by six natural history museums in the Great Lakes region (Canadian Museum of Nature, Ohio State University Museum of Zoology, Royal Ontario Museum, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Rochester Museum and Science Center, and Buffalo Museum of Science) were the primary sources of information, accounting for over two-thirds of the data acquired. One of us (J.L. Metcalfe-Smith) personally examined the collections held by the Royal Ontario Museum, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology and Buffalo Museum of Science, as well as smaller collections held by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The database continues to be updated and now contains approximately 8200 records of unionids from Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair and their drainage basins as well as several of the major tributaries to lower Lake Huron.