Fawnsfoot (Truncilla donaciformis) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 16

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Collections Examined

The following description of the creation of the Lower Greats Lakes Unionid Database was modified from Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) (2006).

In 1996, all available historical and recent data on the occurrences of freshwater mussel species throughout the lower Great Lakes drainage basin were compiled into a computerized, GIS-linked database referred to as the Lower Great Lakes Unionid Database. The database is housed at Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences in Burlington, Ontario. Original data sources included the primary literature, natural history museums, federal, provincial, and municipal government agencies (and some American agencies), conservation authorities, Remedial Action Plans for the Great Lakes Areas of Concern, university theses and environmental consulting firms. Mussel collections held by six natural history museums in the Great Lakes region (Canadian Museum of Nature, Ohio State University Museum of Zoology, Royal Ontario Museum, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Rochester Museum and Science Center, and Buffalo Museum of Science) were the primary sources of information, accounting for over two-thirds of the initial data acquired. Janice Metcalfe-Smith personally examined the collections held by the Royal Ontario Museum, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology and Buffalo Museum of Science, as well as smaller collections held by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The database continues to be updated with new field data and now contains approximately 8200 records of unionids from Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair and their drainage basins as well as several of the major tributaries to lower Lake Huron. The majority of records in the database are now from recent (post-1996) field collections made by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Environment Canada, provincial agencies, universities and conservation authorities. This database is the source for all information on Canadian populations of the Fawnsfoot discussed in this report.

The report writer has personally verified live specimens (Sydenham River, Thames River), shell vouchers (Muskrat Creek, Grand River) or digital vouchers (Lake St. Clair) from all populations described in this report.