MUSSELpdb | family Unionidae Rafinesque, 1820

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Geography
	Summary North America Central America South America Afrotropics North Eurasia East Asia Australasia Species Richness & Endemism by Geography

Page last updated
Wed 1 October 2025

The Freshwater Mussels (Unionoida) of the World (and other less consequential bivalves)

FM(U)otW(aolcb) is the web version of the MUSSEL Project Database. Follow the links to browse the data or use the custom Google search field. Either way, you win!

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Bivalvia | Unionoida | Unionoidea

family UNIONIDAE Rafinesque, 1820
synonyms (71 nomina) | cladomics

Global Distribution of the Unionidae. The blue majority of the pie depicts the relative Recent species diversity of the family in the order Unionoida (792 of 997).

The Unionidae is the richest of the six extant freshwater mussel families by far. We currently recognize 792 Recent species (177 genera) worldwide, and there are representatives in each of the six geographical regions. In the no-so-distant past, we punted with regard to the infra-familial arrangement of the Unionidae. The classification has since been updated and is applied here. We currently recognize five Recent subfamilies.

subfamily AMBLEMINAE Rafinesque, 1820: 301 Recent species.
synonymy (17 nomina) | 5 tribes
Distribution: Central America, North America, East Asia, North Eurasia

genus Germainaia Graf & Cummings, 2009: 1 Recent species.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species
Distribution: Afrotropics

subfamily GONIDEINAE Ortmann, 1916: 174 Recent species.
synonymy (16 nomina) | 7 genera, 8 tribes
Distribution: East Asia, North America, North Eurasia

genus Haasodonta McMichael, 1956: 2 Recent species.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 2 species
Distribution: Australasia

subfamily MODELLNAIINAE Brandt, 1974: 1 Recent species.
synonymy (1 nomen) | 1 genus
Distribution: East Asia

subfamily PARREYSIINAE Henderson, 1935: 108 Recent species.
synonymy (13 nomina) | 5 tribes
Distribution: East Asia, Afrotropics

subfamily UNIONINAE Rafinesque, 1820: 222 Recent species.
synonymy (23 nomina) | 5 tribes
Distribution: East Asia, North America, Australasia, North Eurasia, Central America, Afrotropics

genus Archiparreysia Modell, 1964: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Comptio Liu & Luo, 1978: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 2 species

genus Costanaia MacNeil, 1935: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Eocuneopsis Guo, 1985: fossil only.
synonymy (2 available nomina) | 4 species

genus Eolamprotula Gu [Ku], 1962: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 4 species

genus Gautieraia Van Damme & Pickford, 2010: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Grafunio Van Damme & Pickford, 2010: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Hadrodon Yen, 1952: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 3 species

genus Limnoscapha Lindholm, 1932: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 2 species

genus Mujanaia Delevene, Munt, Piñuela & García-Ramos, 2016: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species
Distribution: North Eurasia

genus Nkondonaia Van Damme & Pickford, 2010: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Obwerukunio Van Damme & Pickford, 2010: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Palindonaia Modell, 1950: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Paranodonta Kobayashi & Suzuki, 1936: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Plesielliptio Russell, 1934: fossil only.
synonymy (2 available nomina) | 10 species

genus Pliconaias Marshall, 1929: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Protelliptio Russell, 1934: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 3 species

genus Protopleurobema Delvene & Araujo, 2009: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Pseudobovaria Adam, 1957: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 3 species

genus Ptychorhynchoideus Modell, 1931: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Qiyangia Chen & Xu, 1980: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 2 species

genus Radioplicata Huang, 1981: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Rhabdotophorus Russell, 1935: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 3 species

genus Saharella Mongin, 1963: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Sulcatapex Yen, 1946: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Sulcatula Leroy, 1940: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Tamesnella Mongin, 1963: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 2 species

genus Teruella Mongin, 1965: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 1 species

genus Unionelloides Gu [Ku], 1962: fossil only.
synonymy (6 available nomina) | 29 species

genus Vetulonaia Branson, 1935: fossil only.
synonymy (1 available nomina) | 3 species

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