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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"During Fall 2008, Bert Van Bocxlaer finally visited the ANSP in a Jessup Award program with DLG as host." ... More News!
"Caudiculatus is a monotypic genus endemic to the island of Borneo." ... 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. 2007. Preliminary review of the freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) of northern Africa, with an emphasis on the Nile. Journal of the Egyptian German Society of Zoology 53D: 89-118.
- 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.
- Graf, D.L. 2007. Palearctic freshwater mussel (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) diversity and the Comparatory Method as a species concept. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences 156: 71-88.
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Recent Presentations:
- Graf, D.L. & K.S. Cummings. 2007. Palaeoheterodonta MMVII: A Cosmopolitan Assessment of Freshwater Mussel Diversity. Presented at a special symposium, "Inventorying the Molluscan Fauna of the World: Frontiers and Perspectives" at the World Congress of Malacology, 16-20 July 2007, Antwerp, Belgium.
- Graf, D.L. & K.S. Cummings. 2007. Preliminary Reevaluation of the Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia: Unionoida) of the Congo Region, Africa. Presented to the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society, 15 March 2007, Little Arkansas.
- Cummings, K.S. & D.L. Graf. 2007. Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia: Unionoida) of the Angola Region. Poster presented to the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society, 13 March 2007, Little Arkansas.
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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!
Visitor locations since 22 January 2008.
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