Utterbackia imbecillis, commonly called the paper pondshell, is a species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels.

It is characterized by its unusually thin shell.

[citation needed] Utterbackia imbecillis has a large range, including the provinces of Quebec and Ontario in Canada and the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin and the District of Columbia in the United States.

[1][2] It is a freshwater species that inhabits both natural and artificial lakes, ponds, creeks, rivers, and reservoirs, preferring a sandy or muddy substrate.

This Unionidae-related article is a stub.