| Page last updated
2 May 2013 |
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!
From 1-30 April 2013, the MUSSELp Web Site had:
- 2941 visits by 1979 vistors that made 13,994 page views. To-date we have had more than 60,000 page-views so far this year!
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"Ryan Pappas, Caitlin Luebke, and Charlie presented two posters at the UWSP COLS Undergraduate Research Symposium." ... More News!
"Leptodea is a genus of three species in eastern North 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. 2013. Patterns of freshwater bivalve global diversity and the state of phylogenetic studies on the Unionoida, Sphaeriidae, and Cyrenidae. American Malacological Bulletin 31: 135-153.
- Graf, D.L. 2011. Types of French freshwater mussels (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Unionoidea) in the Arnould Locard Collection at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris. Zoosystema 33: 451-514.
- Graf, D.L. & K.S. Cummings. 2011. Freshwater mussel (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) richness and endemism in the ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar based on comprehensive museum sampling. Hydrobiologia 678: 17-36.
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Recent Presentations:
- Pappas, R. & D.L. Graf. 2013. A preliminary study of the biogeography of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in Wisconsin, USA. Poster presented at the University of Wisconsin Stevens-Point College of Letters and Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium, 26 April 2013.
- Luebke, C.M. & D.L. Graf. 2013. Curation of the Daniel J. Bereza Collection of freshwater mollusks at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: Phase I. Poster presented at the University of Wisconsin Stevens-Point College of Letters and Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium, 26 April 2013.
- Pfeiffer, J.M. & D.L. Graf. 2013. Evolution of Asymmetrical Larvae in Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia:Unionidae). Presented at the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society, 11-13 March 2013, Guntersville, Alabama.
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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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The Freshwater Mussels (Unionoida) of the World
