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Epioblasma Obliquata
''Epioblasma obliquata'', commonly called the catspaw, is a species of freshwater mussel. It is native to eastern North America, where it is classified as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Natural history and conservation This species was historically widespread in the Ohio River and Great Lakes drainage basins. Like many other North American freshwater mussels, it relies on a habitat of shallow, gravelly riffle zones in larger rivers. This oxygen-rich habitat has largely been destroyed over the past 200 years by dam construction and dredging, which caused a massive population decline. Both subspecies, the white catspaw and the purple catspaw, are critically endangered. By the time ''E. obliquata obliquata'', the purple catspaw, was listed in 1990 under the Endangered Species Act, no surviving breeding populations were known. This changed in 1994 when a few young individuals were found in Killbuck Creek, Ohio, indicating a small breeding population. An attempt to co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
