| Appalachian monkey-face pearly mussel | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Bivalvia |
| Order: | Unionoida |
| Family: | Unionidae |
| Genus: | Quadrula |
| Species: | Q. sparsa |
| Binomial name | |
| Quadrula sparsa (Lea, 1841) |
|
The Appalachian monkey-face pearly mussel or Appalachian monkeyface, scientific name Quadrula sparsa, is a species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels.
This species is endemic to Virginia and Tennessee in the United States. It is critically endangered due to pollution of the rivers in which it lives. Being a detritivore, the mussel absorbs the pollutants which contaminate the river as it feeds.
There are two to three populations remaining. In the Clinch River of Virginia there is a small, isolated population. A population in the upper Powell River in Tennessee is nearly gone. These occurrences may not be viable. All other occurrences have been extirpated.[1]