Mantle flap variation in Texas Fatmucket (Lampsilis bracteata)

Authors: R.G. Howells, C.R. Randklev, M.S. Johnson

Texas Fatmucket (Lampsilis bracteata) is endemic to the Colorado and Guadalupe-San Antonio drainages of the Edwards Plateau and Texas Hill Country in Central Texas (Howells et al. 1996; Howells 2010a, b). Other reports from the lower Guadalupe River coastal plain, central Brazos River, and eastern Texas waters are based on misidentified Louisiana Fatmucket (L. hydiana). Historically, Texas Fatmucket has been limited in both distribution and abundance and has been reduced to a small number of particularly small populations in recent decades. Reproductive biology of the species was largely unstudied until Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) began work with the species in 1992 (Howells 1997, 2000) and, more recently, by Texas A&M University Institute of Renewable Natural Resources in 2011.

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