Howells Freshwater Mussels App

CAUTION: PROBLEMS WITH HISTORIC RECORDS• Historic descriptions of new species were vague, hard to obtain, & the range ofshell variation & extent of species distributions were not well known…(there were no DNA labs at the time). So, many early records are flawed.• Example - Specimens in the Singley collection (UT-Austin) include:– Among 59 specimens examined recently, 45.7% were misidentified and names neededto be updated on all.– Specimens labeled as Tampico Pearlymussel from the Colorado River at Austin wereactually Golden Orb, a species from the Guadalupe-San Antonio and Nueces-Friosystems…The identification was definitely wrong and the location recorded wasdoubtful as well.Tampico Pearlymussel University of Texas material Golden Orb