	Home \| About \| Database \| Mussel of the Month \| Publications & Presentations

MUSSELpdb

Taxonomy

Species & Genus Richness by
Taxonomy

Geography

Species Richness & Endemism by
Geography

Data last updated
Mon 1 Dec 2025

genus Nephronaias Crosse & Fischer, 1894: synonymy

19 Recent freshwater species (19 total species)

Synonymy

Nephronaias Fischer & Crosse, 1894

Fischer & Crosse, 1894. Miss. Sci. Mexique, Rech. Zool. 2(15): 556.
(intro'd as sub-gen. of Unio Retzius, 1788)
Type species: Unio plicatulus Küster, 1856 (orig. desig.) = Nephronaias aztecorum

Caenonaias Fischer & Crosse, 1894

Fischer & Crosse, 1894. Miss. Sci. Mexique, Rech. Zool. 2(15): 556 [as ‘Cænonaias’].
(intro'd as sub-gen. of Unio Retzius, 1788)
Type species: Unio aeruginosus Morelet, 1849 (orig. desig.) = Nephronaias aeruginosa

Leptonaias Fischer & Crosse, 1894

Fischer & Crosse, 1894. Miss. Sci. Mexique, Rech. Zool. 2(15): 557.
(intro'd as sub-gen. of Unio Retzius, 1788)
Type species: Unio ravistellus Morelet, 1849 (orig. desig.) = Nephronaias ravistella

Coenonaias Fischer & Crosse, 1894

‘Crosse & Fischer’ of Authors.
Fischer & Crosse, 1894. Miss. Sci. Mexique, Rech. Zool. 2(16): 596.
Modell, 1964. Arch. Moll. 93: 90.
(error for Caenonaias Fischer & Crosse, 1894)
Type species: Unio aeruginosus Morelet, 1849 = Nephronaias aeruginosa

Nephronajas Ortmann, 1912

‘Crosse & Fischer’ of Authors.
Ortmann, 1912. Ann. Carnegie Mus. 8: 324.
Baker, 1916. Tech. Publ. New York State Coll. Forestry (4): 75.
(error for Nephronaias Fischer & Crosse, 1894)
Type species: Unio plicatulus Küster, 1856 = Nephronaias aztecorum

Nepronaias Simpson, 1900

‘Crosse & Fischer’ Simpson, 1900. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 22: 591.
(error for Nephronaias Fischer & Crosse, 1894)
Type species: Unio plicatulus Küster, 1856 = Nephronaias aztecorum

Taxonomic History (since 1900)

The Taxonomic History lists the ways authors have classified the species currently assigned to Nephronaias, since 1900.

Lampsilis (Proptera) — Simpson (1900)
Nephronaias — Simpson (1900), Ihering (1901), Bartsch (1906), Simpson (1914), Frierson (1917), ... Inoue et al. (2020), Graf & Cummings (2021), Czaja et al. (2023), Freeman et al. (2025), Cummings et al. (2025)
Unio (sec. Elliptio) — Simpson (1900), Simpson (1914)
Unio (Arotonaias) — Martens (1900)
Unio (Sphenonaias) — Martens (1900)
Unio (Nephronaias) — Martens (1900)
Unio (Simonaias) — Martens (1900)
Unio (Elliptio) — Martens (1900)
Lampsilis — Pilsbry (1910)
Plagiola (Arotonaias) — Simpson (1914)
Elliptio — Ortmann (1921)
Elliptio (Nephronaias) — Frierson (1927), Haas (1929)
Elliptio (Sphenonaias) — Frierson (1927)
Elliptio (Popenaias) — Frierson (1927)
Elliptio (Barynaias) — Frierson (1927), Haas (1929)
Lampsilis (Disconaias) — Frierson (1927), Haas (1929)
Elliptio (sec. Nephronaias) — Thiele (1934)
Plagiola — Goodrich & van der Schalie (1937)
Nephronaias (s.s.) — Haas (1969), Haas (1969), Johnson (1981)
Nephronaias (Popenaias) — Haas (1969)
Nephronaias (Sphenonaias) — Haas (1969)
Barynaias — Haas (1969), Graf & Cummings (2007), Bogan (2010), Graf & Cummings (2021), Czaja et al. (2023)
Popenaias — Howells et al. (1996), Graf & Cummings (2007), Bogan (2010), Inoue et al. (2020), Graf & Cummings (2021), Czaja et al. (2023)
Sphenonaias — Graf & Cummings (2007), Bogan (2010), Graf & Cummings (2021)

"Making the world a better place, one mollusk at a time."
	The MUSSEL Project — Home Page https://musselpdb.org/. Site developed and maintained by Dan Graf & Kevin Cummings. Funded by The National Science Foundation.