Northern riffleshell

{{Short description|Subspecies of bivalve}}

{{Subspeciesbox

| name = Northern riffleshell

| image= Epioblasma torulosa rangiana.jpg

| image_caption = Epioblasma torulosa rangiana

| status = CR

| status_system = IUCN2.3

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Bogan, A.E. |collaboration=Mollusc Specialist Group |date=2000 |title=Epioblasma torulosa ssp. rangiana |volume=2000 |page=e.T7887A12861810 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T7887A12861810.en |access-date=12 November 2021}} Database entry includes a brief justification of why this subspecies is critically endangered and the criteria used

| status2 = CITES_A2

| status2_system = CITES

| status2_ref = {{Cite web|title=Appendices {{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}

| genus = Epioblasma

| species = torulosa

| subspecies = rangiana

| authority = (I. Lea, 1838)

}}

The northern riffleshell (Epioblasma torulosa rangiana) is a subspecies of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels. This mussel is endangered and federally protected.{{cite web|url=https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/527|title=Northern riffleshell (Epioblasma rangiana)|website=Environmental Conservation Online System|publisher=U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service|access-date=21 April 2023}}{{Federal Register|58|5638}} It was proposed as a species, Epioblasma rangiana, by Williams et al. (2017).{{cite journal|vauthors=Williams JD, Bogan AE, Butler RS, Cummings KS, Garner JT, Harris JL, Johnson NA, Watters GT|title=A Revised List of the Freshwater Mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionida) of the United States and Canada|year=2017|journal=Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation|volume=20|issue=2|pages=33–58|doi=10.31931/fmbc.v20i2.2017.33-58|doi-access=free}}

This mussel was formerly found widely in the Ohio River basin, but now the population is fragmented into only three viable groups.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

This river mussel needs gravel river beds and swift-flowing, well-oxygenated water. The reduction in range seems to be principally due to impoundment, the silting up of rivers due to agriculture, mining and tree cutting and competition from zebra mussels.{{cite web|url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.118738/Epioblasma_rangiana|title=Epioblasma rangiana|website=NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer|publisher=NatureServe|author=NatureServe|location=Arlington, Virginia|access-date=20 April 2023|date=7 April 2023}}