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Photo © Kurt Stepnitz
Eastern (or Atlantic) Elliptio (Elliptio complanata), a State Special Concern species, is confined to the Lake Superior drainage of the a northwest part of the state. It lives in streams, lakes, impoundments and bays of Lake Superior. The known host fish include a number of common species (killifish, sunfish, bass, crappie, and perch).
The table below provides information about the protected status - both state and federal - and the rank (S and G Ranks) for Eastern Elliptio (Elliptio complanata). See the Working List Key for more information about abbreviations. Counties shaded blue have documented occurrences for this species in the Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory database. The map is provided as a general reference of where occurrences of this species meet NHI data standards and is not meant as a comprehensive map of all observations.
Note: Species recently added to the NHI Working List may temporarily have blank occurrence maps.
| Summary Information | |
|---|---|
| State Status | SC/P |
| Federal Status in Wisconsin | none |
| State Rank | S2S3 |
| Global Rank | G5 |
| Tracked by NHI | Y |
| WWAP | SGCN |
A guidance document is not available at this time. Use the information from the other tabs and contact local biologists, as needed, to develop management and avoidance strategies.
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Photo © Kurt Stepnitz.
The table below lists the natural communities that are associated with Eastern Elliptio. Only natural communities for which Eastern Elliptio is "high" (score=3) or "moderate" (score=2) associated are shown. See the key to association scores for complete definitions. Please see the Wildlife Action Plan to learn how this information was developed.
| Natural community | Score |
|---|---|
| Lake Superior | 2 |
The table below lists the ecological landscape association scores for Eastern Elliptio. The scores correspond to the map (3=High, 2=Moderate, 1=Low, 0=None). For more information, please see the Wildlife Action Plan.
Ecological priorities are the combinations of natural communities and ecological landscapes that provide Wisconsin's best opportunities to conserve important habitats for a given Species of Greatest Conservation Need. The 10 highest scoring combinations are considered ecological priorities and are listed below. More than 10 combinations are listed if multiple combinations tied for 10th place. For more information, please see the Wildlife Action Plan.
| Ecological Landscape | Community |
|---|---|
| Superior Coastal Plain | Lake Superior |
* Ecological priority score is a relative measure that is not meant for comparison between species. This score does not consider socio-economical factors that may dictate protection and/or management priorities differently than those determined solely by ecological analysis. Further, a low ecological priority score does not imply that management or preservation should not occur on a site if there are important reasons for doing so locally.
Conservation actions respond to issues or threats, which adversely affect species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) or their habitats. Besides actions such as restoring wetlands or planting resilient tree species in northern communities, research, surveys and monitoring are also among conservation actions described in the WWAP because lack of information can threaten our ability to successfully preserve and care for natural resources.