New Molluscan ( Gastropoda and Bivalvia) Records 
for the Neuse River Basin, North Carolina 
James R. Flowers and Grover C. Miller 
Department of Zoology 
North Carolina State University 
Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7617 
ABSTRACT — Twenty-three species of molluscs were collected from 
the Piedmont area of the Neuse River basin in North Carolina. 
Thirteen species of gastropods and ten bivalves (six sphaeriids and 
four unionids) were collected. New distribution records for six 
species are reported: Ferrissia fragilis, Laevapex fnscus, Gyraalus 
deflectus , Planorbella trivolvis, Musculium securis, and Pisidium 
variable. 
Walter (1956) conducted the first intensive molluscan survey 
in North Carolina. This was the only survey conducted in the Neuse 
River basin. In the past 37 years only incidental sampling has taken 
place while the Neuse area has undergone rapid urbanization and 
industrialization which have affected aquatic habitats and have un- 
doubtedly altered molluscan communities. Mounting concern among 
malacologists about the impact of anthropogenic changes on mollus- 
can populations led the Scientific Council of Freshwater and Terres- 
trial Mollusks to recommend that surveys be performed to determine 
species distributions (Adams et al. 1990). From October 1989 to 
October 1990, we resurveyed some of the upper or Piedmont por- 
tion of the Neuse drainage. 
METHODS 
Molluscs were collected from 50 stations in the Piedmont area 
of the Neuse River basin of North Carolina. North Carolina Depart- 
ment of Transportation County Road Maps (revised 1988) were used 
to select 10 stations from each of five counties (Durham, Franklin, 
Johnston, Wake, and Wilson). Stations were explored from October 
1989 to October 1990. Most collections occurred during summer 
and early fall 1990 when molluscs were most abundant. 
Molluscs were collected by hand from the littoral zones of 
streams and ponds, from rocks in erosional zones of steams, and 
from the banks and bottoms of shallow streams. A dip net was 
used to sift the bottom substrate of deeper waters. 
Snails and mussels were initially identified with the use of 
Environmental Protection Agency keys to “Freshwater Unionacean 
Clams (Mollusca: Pelacypoda) of North America” and “Freshwater 
Brimleyana 19:61-64, December 1993 
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