''Cucumerunio websteri'' is a

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 s ...

freshwater mussel Freshwater bivalves are one kind of freshwater mollusc, along with freshwater snails. They are bivalves that live in fresh water as opposed to salt water, which is the main habitat type for bivalves. The majority of species of bivalve molluscs ...

, an aquatic

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the family

Hyriidae Hyriidae is a taxonomic family of pearly freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve molluscs in the order Unionida. This family is native to South America, Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea. Like all members of that order, they go through a larval ...

Subspecies

* ''Cucumerunio websteri websteri'' (Simpson, 1902) * '' Cucumerunio websteri delli'' McMichael & Hiscock, 1958 Cucumerunio websteri 2

Description

The specific name ''websteri'' is in honor of Reverend

William Henry Webster The Reverend William Henry Webster (1 October 1850 – 1931) was born at Upton Hall, Cheshire. After a brief career in the navy, during which he saw service in Asia, Webster studied to become a priest and followed this vocation to his retirement. ...

(died 1931) of Wauiku, New Zealand, who have sent specimens to the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

. ''Cucumerunio websteri'' then was described under the name ''Diplodon websteri'' by American malacologist

Charles Torrey Simpson Charles Torrey Simpson (June 3, 1846 in Tiskilwa, Illinois – December 17, 1932 in Lemon City, Miami, Florida) was an American botanist, malacologist, and conservationist. He retired to Florida where he became known for conservation. Scientif ...

in 1902. Simpson's original text (the

type description A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

) reads as follows: The length of the shell is 62–81 mm. The height of the shell is 32–39 mm. The width of the shell is 14–20 mm. Powell A. W. B., ''New Zealand Mollusca'', William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979

Distribution

It lives in the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The type locality is New Zealand, but the exact type locality is unknown.

Habitat

It inhabits lakes and streams.

References

This article incorporates public domain text from reference.

External links