Showing papers by "Ellen E. Strong published in 2013"

Conservation Status of Freshwater Gastropods of Canada and the United States

Abstract: This is the first American Fisheries Society conservation assessment of freshwater gastropods (snails) from Canada and the United States by the Gastropod Subcommittee (Endangered Species Committee). This review covers 703 species representing 16 families and 93 genera, of which 67 species are considered extinct, or possibly extinct, 278 are endangered, 102 are threatened, 73 are vulnerable, 157 are currently stable, and 26 species have uncertain taxonomic status. Of the entire fauna, 74% of gastropods are imperiled (vulnerable, threatened, endangered) or extinct, which exceeds imperilment levels in fishes (39%) and crayfishes (48%) but is similar to that of mussels (72%). Comparison of modern to background extinction rates reveals that gastropods have the highest modern extinction rate yet observed, 9,539 times greater than background rates. Gastropods are highly susceptible to habitat loss and degradation, particularly narrow endemics restricted to a single spring or short stream reaches. Compil...

The Pacific bivalve Anomia peruviana in the Atlantic: a recent invasion across the Panama Canal?

Abstract: The Peruvian jingle shell, Anomia peruviana d’Orbigny, 1846 is native to the Eastern Pacific including Panama. During recent surveys of Panama’s marine fauna using settlement plates, we discovered A. peruviana in Limon Bay, near the Atlantic entrance of the Panama Canal. We confirmed our initial morphological identifications using partial sequences of the COI barcode locus. All Anomia individuals collected on the settlement plates from Atlantic and Pacific Panama were confirmed to be A. peruviana, which is genetically distinct from the native Atlantic A. simplex. We suspect A. peruviana was transported through the Canal from the Pacific to the Atlantic attached as hull fouling on vessels or recreational boats. Salinity tolerance experiments in the laboratory showed that all individuals in the seawater control survived while 25% survived a 12-hour exposure to freshwater from Gatun Lake, confirming that some A. peruviana individuals can survive even the estimated maximum transit of up to 12 hours through the Panama Canal.

New insights on stomach anatomy of carnivorous bivalves

Abstract: Carnivory is unusual among bivalve molluscs and is limited to a few families in the distantly related orders Pectinida, Mytilida and Anomalodesmata. Despite the significance of dietary shifts in the evolution of the bivalves, the anatomy of the alimentary system, and of the gastric chamber in particular, has been described in detail for only a few carnivorous species. Here we describe the anatomy of the gastric chamber in a pectinid, Propeamussium jeffreysii, and an anomalodesmatan, Bathyneaera demistriata, expanding the known morphological disparity of the alimentary system in both groups. We found the stomachs of both to be modified to varying degrees for a carnivorous habit, with thickened, muscular walls, extensive cuticular linings, and reduced sorting areas and gastric chamber compartments (i.e. the dorsal hood, the left pouch and the food-sorting caecum). Despite some superficial similarity, each retains distinct hallmarks of their ancestry among filter-feeding relatives, allowing precise homology assessment of individual characters to differentiate between them. In addition, we found that the gastric chamber of P. jeffreysii represents an intermediate morphology between previously described P. lucidum and filter-feeding pectinids. Consequently, variation in the anatomy of the gastric chamber in Pectinida parallels a previously identified trend towards greater specialization for carnivory in the Anomalodesmata. Our results indicate that the current classification scheme of stomach types does not reflect phylogenetic affinity across the Bivalvia and highlight the need for accurate homology assessment of individual characters of the gastric chamber for inferring evolutionary relationships.

Cryptic yet colorful: anatomy and relationships of a new genus of Cerithiidae (Caenogastropoda, Cerithioidea) from coral reef drop‐offs

Abstract: Cerithium koperbergi is a rare gastropod of the family Cerithiidae from the tropical Indo-West Pacific. The species has a small, unusual shell and often inhabits deeper water, fore-reef habitats that are atypical for the genus. Anatomical investigations reveal that it possesses a combination of features heretofore considered diagnostic of two main cerithiid subfamilies: Cerithiinae and Bittiinae. While the shell is bittiine, the animal lacks mesopodial pedal glands and possesses a seminal receptacle (vs. a spermatophore bursa) in the lateral lamina of the oviduct, which are considered to be cerithiine features. Re-evaluation of the anatomy of Bittium reticulatum, the type species of Bittium, indicates the defining anatomical difference in oviduct anatomy between the two subfamilies does not stand up to closer scrutiny. Partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) sequences support the interpretation that C. koperbergi is a species complex around the western Pacific rim comprising three divergent mitochondrial lineages. Bayesian analysis of partial mitochondrial COI and 16S rRNA sequences confirm the placement of the C. koperbergi complex within a monophyletic Bittiinae, despite the apparent absence of a unifying anatomical feature. Species in the C. koperbergi complex are here united in Pictorium nov. gen. and two species are described as new. It is hypothesized that features of the midgut may be diagnostic of the Bittiinae, but more comparative data are needed.