
John M Pfeiffer IIISmithsonian Institution · Department of Invertebrate Zoology
John M Pfeiffer III
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57
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Introduction
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August 2014 - September 2016
Publications
Publications (57)
Freshwater mussels (order Unionoida) are a diverse radiation of parasitic bivalves that require temporary larval encystment on vertebrate hosts to complete metamorphosis to free-living juveniles. The freshwater mussel-fish symbiosis represents a useful relationship for understanding eco-evolutionary dynamics in freshwater ecosystems but the practic...
The taxonomy of the Parachela–Oxygaster–Macrochirichthys clade of Xenocyprididae has been confused since the original descriptions of Parachela oxygastroides and Parachela hypophthalmus in the mid‐19th century. The confusion seems attributable to the substantial intraspecific variation in color and other morphological characteristics of species of...
The freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida) of the biodiversity hotspot Sundaland are experiencing severe anthropogenic threats, whilst their diversity and distribution remain poorly understood. Here, we present the first modern-day data on Unionida diversity and distribution across western Borneo. Mussels were surveyed and collected in the upper K...
The global decline of freshwater mussels and their crucial ecological services highlight the need to understand their phylogeny, phylogeography and patterns of genetic diversity to guide conservation efforts. Such knowledge is urgently needed for Unio crassus, a highly imperilled species originally widespread throughout Europe and southwest Asia. R...
The United States of America has a diverse collection of freshwater mussels comprising 301 species distributed among 59 genera and two families (Margaritiferidae and Unionidae), each having a unique suite of traits. Mussels are among the most imperilled animals and are critical components of their ecosystems, and successful management, conservation...
Frequent and strong morphological convergence suggests that determinism tends to supersede historical contingencies in evolutionary radiations. For many lineages living within the water column of rivers and streams, hydrodynamic forces drive widespread morphological convergence. Living below the sediment-water interface may release organisms from t...
Ecological interactions among species often lead to parasitic lineages coevolving with host resources, which is often suggested as the primary driver of parasite diversification. Freshwater mussels are bivalves that possess a parasitic life cycle requiring larval encystment on freshwater vertebrates to complete metamorphosis. The North American fre...
Ecological interactions among species often lead to parasitic lineages coevolving with host resources, which is often suggested as the primary driver of parasite diversification. Freshwater mussels are bivalves that possess a parasitic life cycle requiring larval encystment on freshwater vertebrates to complete metamorphosis. The North American fre...
The proliferation of genomic sequencing approaches has significantly impacted the field of phylogenetics. Target capture approaches provide a cost-effective, fast and easily applied strategy for phylogenetic inference of non-model organisms. However, several existing target capture processing pipelines are incapable of incorporating whole genome se...
In most animals, mitochondrial DNA is strictly maternally inherited and non-recombining. One exception to this pattern is called doubly uniparental inheritance (DUI), a phenomenon involving the independent transmission of female and male mitochondrial genomes. DUI is known only from the molluskan class Bivalvia. The phylogenetic distribution of mal...
Freshwater mussels belonging to the genus Cristaria Schumacher, 1817 (Bivalvia: Unionidae) are widespread from Mongolia to Indochina while the range of one species, C. plicata (Leach, 1814), covers two biogeographic subregions, i.e., East Asian (Amur River to Vietnam) and Sundaland (Mekong River basin). We present here a taxonomic revision of the n...
The proliferation of genomic sequencing approaches has significantly impacted the field of phylogenetics. Target capture approaches provide a cost-effective, fast, and easily applied strategy for phylogenetic inference of non-model organisms. However, many existing pipelines used to create phylogenomic datasets from target capture data are incapabl...
The proliferation of genomic sequencing approaches has significantly impacted the field of phylogenetics. Target capture approaches provide a cost-effective, fast, and easily applied strategy for phylogenetic inference of non-model organisms. However, many existing pipelines used to create phylogenomic datasets from target capture data are incapabl...
In most animals, mitochondrial DNA is strictly maternally inherited and non-recombining. One exception to these assumptions is called doubly uniparental inheritance (DUI): a phenomenon involving the independent transmission of female and male mitochondrial genomes. DUI is known only from the molluscan class Bivalvia. The phylogenetic distribution o...
Natural history collections are uniquely positioned to chronicle biodiversity changes across time and space and are a fundamental data source in taxon-based research and conservation. With over 90 species listed under the Endangered Species Act, freshwater mussels are one of the most imperiled animal assemblages in the United States and are the foc...
We report on the discovery of a wild, reproducing population of Channa aurolineata (Pisces: Channidae) in west-central Florida (USA), and first documented occurrence of snakeheads in the Gulf Coast region. Channa aurolineata is a large, predatory fish of the bullseye snakehead “Marulius group” species complex from Asia. Adult and
juvenile specimens...
Chamberlainia hainesiana (Lea, 1856) (Unionidae) is the most economically important freshwater mussel in Thailand and is commonly used in food, spiritual ceremonies and pearl culture. Despite the clear economic importance of this monotypic genus, the distribution and diversity of Chamberlainia Simpson, 1900 are poorly understood. We set out to re-e...
• Most of the Bornean endemic freshwater mussel (Unionida) species known to date have not been recorded by science for the past 50 years or more, owing to a lack of research effort and presumed population losses.
• This study assessed current patterns and recent changes in the diversity and distribution of freshwater mussels in north-eastern Borneo...
The Mekong and Chao Phraya rivers harbor a species-rich freshwater mussel assemblage containing a large radiation of the Pseudodontini species. Members of the genera Bineurus Simpson 1900 and Thaiconcha Bolotov et al., 2020 primarily inhabit small and medium-sized tributaries of these rivers. Here, we present an integrative taxonomic review of thes...
The tribes Contradentini and Rectidentini (Unionidae) comprise a diverse clade of freshwater mussels endemic to South-east Asia. Our understanding of the diversity and phylogeny of this radiation has improved dramatically in recent years, but this systematic transformation has not yet benefited from comprehensive museum sampling or phylogenomic met...
Anthropogenic freshwater habitats may provide undervalued prospects for long‐term conservation as part of species conservation planning. This fundamental, but overlooked, issue requires attention considering the pace that humans have been altering natural freshwater ecosystems and the accelerated levels of biodiversity decline in recent decades. We...
Functional traits are characteristics of an organism that represents how it interacts with its environment and can influence the structure and function of ecosystems. Ecological stoichiometry provides a framework to understand ecosystem structure and function by modeling the coupled flow of elements (e.g. carbon [C], nitrogen [N], phosphorus [P]) b...
Freshwater mussels are a species-rich group with biodiversity patterns strongly shaped by a life history strategy that includes an obligate parasitic larval stage. In this study, we set out to reconstruct the life history evolution and systematics in a clade of freshwater mussels adapted to parasitizing a molluscivorous host fish. Anchored hybrid e...
The freshwater mussel fauna of Borneo is highly endemic, with at least 11 species being unique to that island. Most of these species have not been recorded for at least 50 years owing to a lack of sampling effort and large-scale habitat destruction and degradation. Surveys conducted in 2016 across much of Malaysian Borneo failed to locate four out...
The systematics of Oriental freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) is poorly known. Here, we present an integrative revision of the genus Trapezoideus Simpson, 1900 to further understanding of freshwater mussel diversity in the region. We demonstrate that Trapezoideus as currently circumscribed is non-monophyletic, with its former species belongi...
Evolutionary and ecological hypotheses of the freshwater mussel subfamily Ambleminae are intensely geographically biased—a consequence of the complete exclusion of Mesoamerican taxa in phylogenetic reconstructions of the clade. We set out to integrate a portion of the Mesoamerican freshwater mussel assemblage into existing hypotheses of amblemine c...
Abstract Objectively delimiting species boundaries remains an important challenge in systematics and becomes urgent when unresolved taxonomy complicates conservation and recovery efforts. We examined species boundaries in the imperiled freshwater mussel genus Cyclonaias (Bivalvia: Unionidae) using morphometrics, molecular phylogenetics, and multisp...
The Indotropical freshwater mussel assemblage has more genera of uncertain subfamily-level position (i.e. genera incertae sedis) than all other regional faunas. Of the 16 genera incertae sedis in the Indotropics, only two, Harmandia and Unionetta, are distributed in the mainland southeast Asia subregion. Resolving the enigmatic systematic position...
The Indotropical freshwater mussel assemblage has more genera of uncertain subfamily-level position (i.e. genera incertae sedis) than all other regional faunas. Of the 16 genera incertae sedis in the Indotropics, only two, Harmandia and Unionetta, are distributed in the mainland southeast Asia subregion. Resolving the enigmatic systematic position...
The freshwater mussel genus Oxynaia Haas, 1911 is thought to be comprised of two geographically disjunct and morphologically variable species groups but the monophyly of this taxon has yet to be tested in any modern cladistic sense. This generic hypothesis has important systematic and biogeographic implications as Oxynaia is the type genus of the c...
Megalonaias is the most geographically widespread genus of the subfamily Ambleminae and is distributed across much of the eastern half of North America, from Minnesota to Nicaragua. Despite the large geographic distribution, the species-level diversity of Megalonaias is quite depauperate (2 spp.), suggesting the genus may not be constrained by the...
This data article presents the multi-locus DNA alignments, morphometric data, and details on specimens examined to resolve the evolutionary history of Anodontoides and Strophitus, primarily generic placement and species boundaries. We sequenced 3 loci to create our molecular matrix: cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, NADH dehydrogenase subunit I, and...
Recent research efforts have significantly advanced our knowledge on Asian freshwater mussel (Bivalvia: Unionida) diversity and distribution. Here we provide a modern consensus of the diversity, biogeography and conservation of Unionida in the region comprising East and Southeast Asia (excluding Wallacea) and Asian Russia. A data review confirmed t...
Acantopsis (Cobitidae) is revised based on analysis of morphological and molecular data. Four of the six available names, A. dialuzona, A. spectabilis, A. octoactinotos, and A. thiemmedhi, are valid, and three new species, A. rungthipae, A. dinema, and A. ioa, are described. All species are described morphologically, distributions are mapped, and r...
The Paracanthocobitis zonalternans species complex is revised based on analysis of morphological and molecular data. Three new species, P. nigrolineata, P. marmorata, and P. triangula are described, and P. phuketensis is removed from synonymy. All species are described morphologically, geographic ranges are delimited, and relationships are discusse...
The Southeast Asian cyprinid genus Crossocheilus was briefly described by Kuhl and van Hasselt in 1823 and, despite the short description, has remained a valid genus. However, the genus and its species are frequently misidentified in institutional collections, likely due to the absence of a detailed diagnosis and description, as well as the superfi...
Freshwater mussels of the order Unionida are key elements of freshwater habitats and are responsible for important ecological functions and services. Unfortunately, these bivalves are among the most threatened freshwater taxa in the world. However, conservation planning and management are hindered by taxonomic problems and a lack of detailed ecolog...
The Central Texas endemic freshwater mussel, Quadrula mitchelli (Simpson in Dall, 1896), had been presumed extinct until relict populations were recently rediscovered. To help guide ongoing and future conservation efforts focused on Q. mitchelli we set out to resolve several uncertainties regarding its evolutionary history, specifically its unknown...
Bilaterally asymmetrical glochidia (i.e. bivalved parasitic larvae bearing a large marginal appendage on a single valve) have been reported from five Asian freshwater mussel genera belonging to two separate subfamilies, the Gonideinae (i.e. Pseudodon, Solenaia, and Physunio) and Rectidentinae (i.e. Contradens and Trapezoideus). This classification...
The freshwater mussels Prisodontopsis aviculaeformis (F.R. Woodward, 1991) and Mweruella mweruensis (E.A. Smith, 1908) are endemic to Lake Mweru and confluent rivers in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo in southcentral Africa. Each species has traditionally been regarded as monotypic at the genus-level or above. We assessed the phylogenet...
Zhou et al. (2007, Acta Zoologica Sinica, 53: 1024–1030) reported the eastern Asian freshwater mussel genus Lamproula sensu lato Simpson, 1900 (Unionidae) to be polyphyletic and advocated a revision of the genus- and family-level classifications. However, their taxon
sampling and analyses were insufficient to infer accurately the systematic placeme...