 The original type locality was simply "river Cumberland," according to Clarke, who, upon ascertaining that the type specimen was lost, designated a neotype from the Clear Fork, a tributary to the Big South Fork, in Fentress County, Tennessee.All verified sites of occurrence are in the Cumberland Plateau Physiographic Province, giving it one of the most restricted ranges of any Cumberlandian species.There has been confusion about the historical distribution of this species because of its similarity to a congener - the elktoe ("Alasmidonta marginata").