This species is distinguished by its heavy, subcircular and swollen (MHI near 65%) shell; length to about 200 mm; dorsal posterior end not winged, usually excavated posterior to the beaks; hinge teeth strong.
Alathyria condola Iredale, 1943
Common name: Freshwater mussel
Class Bivalvia
Infraclass Heteroconchia
Cohort Palaeoheterodonta
Order Unionida
Superfamily Unionoidea
Family Hyriidae
Subfamily Velesunioninae
Genus Alathyria Iredale, 1934
Original name: Alathyria condola Iredale, 1943. In Iredale, T. (1943). Guide to the freshwater shells of New South Wales. Australian Naturalist 11: 85-95.
Type locality: Murrumbidgee River, Narrandera, New South Wales.
The last major taxonomic revision of Australian freshwater mussels was conducted by McMichael & Hiscock (1958). Based on recent molecular results, Walker et al. (2014) suggested that a reassessment of Australian hyriids is needed.
Shallow burrower in sediments of rivers, creeks, and reservoirs (usually in flowing water). Suspension feeder. The life cycle of this species has not been reported, but presumably larvae (glochidia) are brooded in marsupia in the gills of the female and, when released, attach to fish gills or fins where they undergo metamorphosis before detaching from the fish and dropping to the sediment as free-living juveniles.
Lachlan, Macquarie and Murrumbidgee Rivers, New South Wales. There is unconfirmed evidence that the species has spread toward the Murray River through the channels of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.
Balla, S. A. & Walker, K. F. (1991). Shape variation in the Australian freshwater mussel Alathyria jacksoni Iredale (Bivalvia, Hyriidae). Hydrobiologia 220: 89-98.
Beesley, P. L., Ross, G. J. B. & Wells, A., Eds. (1998). Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Parts A & B. Melbourne, CSIRO Publishing.
Haas, F. (1969). Superfamilia Unionacea. Das Terreich, 88 (1-10), 1-663.
Iredale, T. (1934). The freshwater mussels of Australia. Australian Zoologist 8: 57-78 pls 3-6.
Iredale, T. (1943). A basic list of the fresh water Mollusca of Australia. Australian Zoologist 10: 188-230.
Lamprell, K. & Healy, J. (1998). Bivalves of Australia, volume 2. Leiden, Backhuys Publishers.
McMichael, D. F. & Hiscock, I. D. (1958). A monograph of the freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Pelecypoda) of the Australian region. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 9: 372-508.
Negri, A. P. & Jones, G. J. (1995). Bioaccumulation of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins from the cyanobacterium Anabaena circinalis by the freshwater mussel Alathyria condola. Toxicon 33: 667-678.
Sheldon, F., McCasker, N., Hobbs, M., Humphries, P., Jones, H., Klunzinger, M. & Kennard, M. (2020). Habitat and flow requirements of freshwater mussels in the northern Murray-Darling Basin. Report to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder. Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University and Institute of Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University.
Smith, B. J. & Kershaw, R. C. (1979). Field guide to the non-marine Molluscs of South-eastern Australia. Canberra, A.N.U. Press
Walker, K. F. (1981a). The ecology of freshwater mussels in the River Murray. Australian Water Research Council Technical Papers 63: 1-119.
Walker, K. F. (1981b). The distribution of freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Pelecypoda) in the Australian zoogeographic region. Pp. 1233-1249 in A. Keast. Ecological Biogeography of Australia. The Hague, Dr W. Junk.
Walker, K. F. (2004). A guide to the provisional identification of the freshwater mussels (Unionoida) of Australasia. Albury, Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre.
Walker, K. F., Byrne, M., Hickey, C. W. & Roper, D. S. (2001). Freshwater Mussels (Hyriidae) of Australasia. Pp. 5-31 in G. Bauer & Wächtler, K. Ecology and Evolution of the Freshwater Mussels Unionoida. Ecological Studies. Berlin, Springer-Verlag.
Walker, K. F., Jones, H. A. & Klunzinger, M. W. (2014). Bivalves in a bottleneck: taxonomy, phylogeography and conservation of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionoida) in Australasia. Hydrobiologia 735:61–79.
