Freshwater Mollusks Conservation Society

Common and Scientific Names Subcommittees

The Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society (FMCS) maintains lists of common and scientific names of freshwater gastropods and bivalves. Both lists cover native species of the United States and Canada. The lists maintained by FMCS serve as a consensus of accepted names and are a resource for conservation practitioners, hobbyists, scientists, and the public. The reasons for maintaining names lists are simple: science moves fast and new species are described almost every month. Taxonomic changes to described species are also common. In contrast, these lists are semi-stable. These lists serve to support stability and promote effective communication about freshwater mollusks. These lists are periodically published by FMCS, and the next printing is anticipated in 2025.

GASTROPOD NAMES

BIVALVE NAMES

The foundation of these lists are the peer-reviewed papers of Johnson et al. (2013) and Williams et al. (2017) for gastropods and bivalves respectively. Every two years, coinciding with the FMCS biannual symposium, the FMCS names subcommittees meet to update the lists. The names subcommittees consist of experts on mollusks and taxonomy. At each meeting, petitions to change the list are reviewed and voted on by subcommittee members. In 2019, the lists were updated based on decisions made about petitions submitted prior to the meeting.

The formal guidelines and procedures of the names subcommittees were updated in 2021.

Anyone can submit a change by filling out this petition for proposed scientific or common name change form

Please visit the names lists for more information.

PREVIOUS YEARS ARCHIVE

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