OZ: The Freshwater Mussels of Australasia

• Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, USA (ANSP)
• Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, USA (INHS)
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor, USA (UMMZ)
• Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, USA(MCZ)
• National Museum of Natural History, Washington, USA (USNM)
• Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh (CM)
• Delaware Museum of Natural History, Wilmington, USA
• American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA (AMNH)

• Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (FMNH)
• Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara (SBMNH)
• Natural History Museum, London, UK (BMNH)
• Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia (AMS)
• Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany (ZMB)
• Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt, Germany (SMF)
• Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France (MNHN)
• Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium (MRAC)
• Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium (IRSNB)

What sort of information does the OZ database provide?

The OZ database is arranged hierarchically, allowing you to browse the diversity of the various taxonomic levels, from the families of the order down to the individual specimen lots for each species. For both the genus and species levels, there is also the option to get a complete synonymy of each taxon.

These data were obtained from from various sources relevant to the problem Australasian mussel diversity, including Iredale (1934, 1943) and McMichael & Hiscock (1958). Specimen records were obtained by visiting each collection (listed above) and digitally photographing each lot, including the original label material.

Information about our data model and the implementation can be found at the d'basing page.

How do I retrieve data from the OZ database?

The whole system behaves sort of like a "virtual collection". At each taxonomic level, a browsing bar showing the chain of higher taxa above is provided to help maintain a sense of where in the Mollusca the user is. It should be intuitive how to use that browsing bar in combination with your web browser's "back" button to most effectively find the data you seek.

The MUSSELp database project will allow searches in the taxon and locality fields. As we further develop the interface, other data will also come online: taxonomic opinions (i.e., other combinations), references (including page numbers and figures) to relevant works, type information, and various summary statistics. Until then, please enjoy the current version.

What is not available from the OZ database?

A Guarantee. The MUSSELp database is definitely a work in progress. As such, much of the information obtained from bibliographic sources provided herein has not been verified. Browse with confidence but don't be surprised if a few errors have crept in. They will be dealt with in due time. Collection records were generally obtained from the specimen lots themselves, and subsequent comments and re-identifications have been added by DLG and KSC. These may not be reflected in the original collections themselves, and their own databases (see links above) should be consulted.

Permission to reproduce specimen images. The copyrights to reproduce particular specimen images are retained by the collections from which they were obtained. Inquiries about image use should be addressed to the curators of those collections (links above). We are grateful to be able to use the specimen images as part of this database project.

Where is Australasia?

The Australasian Region is comprised of those former parts of the Gondwanan supercontinent in the southwestern Pacific. The modern, mussel-inhabited components include Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Australia, including the island of Tasmania, is an independent country occupying the continent of the same name. The country has a land area of 7,686,884 sq. km. The major rivers include the Murray-Darling, Fitzroy, Burdekin, Flinders, Swan and Cooper basins, draining both to the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The island of New Guinea is the second largest island in the world, located east of the Malay Archipeligo and north of Australia. It is governed by two countries: Papua New Guinea on the east and Irian Jaya, Indonesia on the west. The Solomon Islands is composed of the smaller islands to the east of New Guinea, including Guadalcanal.

New Zealand is an independent country of several islands, the principle ones being the North and South islands.