Page last updated
23 December 2007

Hugh Jones Visits the ANSP as a Jessup Fellow

Hugh Jones is a Ph.D. student that studies freshwater mussels at the University of Syndey in the laboratory of Maria Byrne. He came to the ANSP for six weeks in the fall of 2007 to continue his studies. Hugh was funded as a Jessup Fellow and by an NSF grant to DLG. Hugh submitted the following report.

"I am a visiting researcher from Sydney, Australia, currently undertaking a Ph.D. on aspects of freshwater mussel ecology, and I have just spent 6 weeks studying at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia on a Jessup Fellowship with Dr. Daniel Graf.  Although I have some 20 years experience with Australian freshwater mussels, I have had virtually no exposure to this group from other parts of the world. Hence, my time at the Academy has been spent broadening my knowledge of the diversity of mussel morphology and systematics. In particular, I wanted to gain a better understanding of South American freshwater mussels belonging to the family Hyriidae. This is an ancient Gondwanan group, only found in South America and Australasia, and by working on them I hoped to gain insights to the nature of the Australian mussel fauna.

"One of my main objectives at the Academy, has been to identify morphological, anatomical or larval characteristics that distinguish the mussel fauna from these two land masses. Generally, research on the systematics of Hyriids has been regional, focusing on the mussels  from one continent or the other but never considering them both as a combined group. While I made some progress, it was inhibited by a the lack of material for some genera and my struggles with Argentinian Spanish — which is somewhat similar to deciphering the works of Chaucer, only less risque.

"I examined a wide range of unionoid shells held in the collection at the Academy, and I dissected and described the anatomy of mussels from recent collecting trips to the Amazon basin in Peru, South America, and from various African localities. These included members of the glochidium-bearing families Unionidae and Hyriidae and speciemens from the lasidium-bearing Iridinidae and Mycetopodidae.

"When I haven't been wandering, lost among the maze of corridors and storage cabinets inside the Academy, I have spent plenty of time wandering lost among the streets and taverns of Philadelphia, enjoying the architecture and the mood of the place. For an Australian, where we have been lucky to avoid major internal conflicts, visiting the civil war memorials and battlefields of Gettysburg was a real eye-opener — Gettysburg seems to be to Americans what Gallipoli is to many Australians."

The fall colors of Philadelphia.