Taxonomic reassessment of the freshwater mussel genus Unio (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in Russia and Ukraine based on morphological and molecular data
Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: The taxonomy of species within the genus Unio (Bivalvia: Unionidae: Unioninae) in Russia and Ukraine has been contentious due to the lack of correspondence between three concurrent yet divergent classifications. In order to clarify which classification system best reflects the evolutionary relationships among these taxa, we performed detailed morphological analyses on 720 Ukrainian and Russian specimens, complemented with molecular data (COI) from a selected number of specimens. The morphological character data set shows the existence of only three widespread species with slight eco-morphological variations. Statistical analyses of shell morphometric parameters and molecular analyses based on mtDNA COI gene fragment sequences confirm the existence of the same three species within a single genus, Unio, in Russia and Ukraine, that is U. pictorum, U. tumidus and U. crassus. Results from molecular analyses suggest the existence of an additional subgroup within the U. crassus lineage, U. crassus cf. courtilieri that deserves further research. The present integrated approach confirms the validity of the classification by Zhadin (1952) and rejects the complex classifications of Starobogatov et al. (2004) and Bogatov & Kijashko (2016).
Source: Zootaxa
Institutions: Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universidade do Porto, International Union for Conservation of Nature (United Kingdom), Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2734006006