The Unionidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) of Peninsular Florida

Abstract

This is a study of the Unionidae, or fresh-water mussels, of peninsular Florida, considered here as that region below the Suwannee River system in the west and the St. Marys River system in the east. As thus defined the area has a unionid fauna of 12 species belonging to 6 genera; 9 of these species also occur in the Apalachicolan region to the west and north where there are 49 species in 17 genera; 2 of these also occur in the Southern Atlantic Slope region, which has 37 species and 11 genera. One species is clearly of Southern Atlantic Slope origin, while two others are endemic. The paucity of the fauna and distribution of the species give credence to the geological evidence that most, of peninsular Florida was inundated sometime during the Pliocene or early Pleistocene, and that it has since been repopulated by Unionidae mostly from the west and north.