| Page last updated
28 July 2010 |
MUSSELp Home Page
Making the World a Better Place, One Mollusk at a Time.
The MUSSEL Project (MUSSELp, for short) is an on-going study aimed at the global revision of the classification of the Unionoida, otherwise known as freshwater mussels. The two principle investigators, Daniel L. Graf (DLG) and Kevin S. Cummings (KSC), combine their efforts to maintain an efficient malacological strike force equally capable of working in remote collection localities or urban mollusk collections.
Toward this end, we are compiling an exhaustive database of all Recent unionoid species and genera described to-date. This database will eventually serve as the basis for a universal synthesis and revision of freshwater mussel taxonomy. Furthermore, we apply cladistic methods to test our hypotheses of evolutionary relationships. This allows us to use macroevolutionary pattern to test hypotheses of macroevolutionary process.
This site is under constant construction, but feel free to click around and see what we have so far. Check back often for updates!
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"DLG took the opportunity of the 2010 meeting of the AMS to present our latest results on the phylogeny of the Unionidae." ... More News!
"Anodontites is a diverse genus of 21 species, widespread in Meso- and South America." ... more about the Mussel of the Month!
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About Freshwater Mussels
"While unionoids are diverse and conspicuous members of freshwater communities all over the Earth, they are often ignored or unknown to everyone except specially trained invertebrate zoologists." ... more about freshwater mussels!
Publications & Presentations
"This web site is not the only mechanism for distribution of our research results." ... more about publications!
Recent Publications:
- Graf, D.L. & K.S. Cummings. 2010. Comments on the value of COI for family-level freshwater mussel systematics: a reply to Hoeh, Bogan, Heard & Chapman. Malacologia 52: 191-197.
- Cummings, K.S. D.L. Graf. 2009. Mollusca: Bivalvia. [in] J.H. Thorp & A.P. Covich (eds.). Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates, 3rd edition. Academic Press-Elsevier, New York. pp. 309-384.
- Graf, D.L. & K.S. Cummings. 2009. Actual and alleged freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) from Madagascar and the Mascarenes, with description of a new genus, Germainaia. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 158: 221-238.
- Graf, D.L. & K.S. Cummings. 2007. Review of the systematics and global diversity of freshwater mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionoida). Journal of Molluscan Studies 73:291-314.
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Recent Presentations:
- Graf, D.L. & A. Geneva. 2010. Coelatura and the monophyly of the Unionidae (Bivalvia: Unionoida). Presented to a joint meeting of the American Malacological Society and the Western Society of Malacologists, 26-30 June 2010, San Diego, California.
- Graf, D.L., K.S. Cummings, & A.D. Chilala. 2009. Freshwater mussel studies in Zambia 2005-2008. Presented at the Agricultural & Commercial Society of Zambia 2009 Show, 31 July-3 August 2009, Lusaka, Zambia.
- Graf, D.L. & K.S. Cummings. 2009. There are about 300 species of freshwater mussels in North America. Is that a lot? Presented to the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society, 19-23 April 2009, Baltimore, Maryland.
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Projects & Online Products
"Rather that trying to conquer the whole world at once, we have instead opted to break the larger problem into a series of more manageable projects."... more about projects!
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