Extinct Species

Wabash riffleshell
Epioblasma sampsonii (Lea, 1861)

The four species of the genus Epioblasma listed above have not been found alive in the Midwest in more than 75 years, and all are currently considered extinct (Turgeon et al. 1988, Appendix 2). Three are illustrated here in the likelihood their shells may be encountered while collecting along the banks of the Wabash and Ohio rivers and their larger tributaries.