Dead Clams Walking – Part II

 

In our previous blog we talked about the nearly extinct genus of freshwater mussels, Epioblasma. Here we present a sobering/depressing gallery of most of its species. Specimens are female individuals.

White Catspaw Maumee River system Probably extinct

Purple Catspaw
Upper Ohio River system
Federally endangered

Southern Combshell Tombigbee River system Federally endangered

Cumberlandian Combshell
Tennessee River system
Federally endangered

Oyster Shell Tennessee River system Federally endangered

Oyster Shell
Tennessee River system
Federally endangered

Leafshell Ohio River system Extinct

Leafshell
Ohio River system
Extinct

Northern Riffleshell Ohio River-Great Lakes Federally endangered

Northern Riffleshell
Ohio River-Great Lakes
Federally endangered

Southern Combshell Mobile River system Federally endangered

Southern Combshell
Mobile River system
Federally endangered

Duck River Oystershell Duck River Federally endangered

Duck River Oystershell
Duck River
Federally endangered

Yellow Blossom Tennessee River system Extinct

Yellow Blossom
Tennessee River system
Extinct

Acornshell Tennessee River system Extinct

Acornshell
Tennessee River system
Extinct

Round Combshell Ohio River system Extinct

Round Combshell
Ohio River system
Extinct

White Catspaw Maumee River system Probably extinct

White Catspaw
Maumee River system
Probably extinct

Ahlstedt's Oystershell Tennessee River system Federally endangered

Ahlstedt’s Oystershell
Tennessee River system
Federally endangered

Curtis Pearlymussel Black River system Possibly extinct

Curtis Pearlymussel
Black River system
Possibly extinct

Forkshell Ohio River system Extinct

Forkshell
Ohio River system
Extinct

Sugarspoon Tennessee River system Extinct

Sugarspoon
Tennessee River system
Extinct

Snuffbox Ohio River - Great Lakes Federally endangered

Snuffbox
Ohio River – Great Lakes
Federally endangered

Southern Acornshell Coosa River system Possibly extinct

Southern Acornshell
Coosa River system
Possibly extinct

Tubercled Blossom Ohio River system Extinct

Tubercled Blossom
Ohio River system
Extinct

Cumberland Leafshell Tennessee River system Extinct

Cumberland Leafshell
Tennessee River system
Extinct

Turgid Blossom Duck River Extinct

Turgid Blossom
Duck River
Extinct

Upland Combshell Coosa River system Federally endangered

Upland Combshell
Coosa River system
Federally endangered

Tan Riffleshell Duck River Federally endangered

Tan Riffleshell
Duck River
Federally endangered

 

About the Author: Dr. G. Thomas Watters is Curator of Molluscs at the Museum of Biological Diversity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dead clams walking – Part I

 

Freshwater mussels are the most imperiled animals in North America according to the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Habitat destruction, pollution, dams, and a litany of other problems have driven many to the verge of extinction. Alas, many are already there. Perhaps the poster children of extinct or soon-to-be-extinct mussels are members of the genus Epioblasma. Once widespread in eastern North America, perhaps no other group has been so decimated by the activities of mankind. And “decimated” is an understatement. Technically, “decimated” means to kill every tenth member of something. For Epioblasma, every species is either extinct or endangered to the point of becoming extinct. And we, mankind, did this to them.

Because so many species of Epioblasma are extinct, the habits of very few have ever been studied. But those that have been investigated reveal a unique (if perhaps somewhat shocking) lifestyle. Like most freshwater mussels, members of Epioblasma have a parasitic larval stage, the glochidium, that uses fishes as hosts. Most mussels have evolved some means of efficiently putting their babies on the proper host. This usually entails luring the host to the mussel to be parasitized. But Epioblasma goes one step further – they actually catch the fish and hold onto it until it has been covered with thousands of parasitic larvae. Mama mussel then releases the host. If all goes as planned, several weeks later the larvae will transform on the fish, fall to the bottom and start their life as juvenile mussels. For the few species for which the hosts are known, the victims are darters and sculpins. The fishes have no one but themselves to blame – they are caught by the mussel when they get too nosy and stick their heads in the mussel to investigate.

Below are some images of the federally endangered Northern Riffleshell and its unfortunate host. Members of the Division of Molluscs have been moving this rare species from the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania to Big Darby Creek in Ohio. The Allegheny population is the only reproducing one on earth but it is doing very well, with probably 100s of thousands of individuals. In partnership with the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium and Columbus Metro Parks, we have been relocating this species for nearly seven years with the permission and funding of the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the ODNR Division of Wildlife, and the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission. To date nearly 10,000 individuals have been moved. In order to monitor these mussels, every one has been affixed with a $4 Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag. All have been released into several of the Metro Parks on Big Darby where they can be protected and monitored. The goal is to start a reproducing population there with the ultimate hope of delisting the species as endangered. This is the largest introduction/augmentation of an endangered species in the history of Ohio.

Next time we will present a gallery of Epioblasma.

A female Northern Riffleshell, Epioblasma torulosa rangian

A female Northern Riffleshell, Epioblasma torulosa rangiana

A male Northern Riffleshell

A male Northern Riffleshell

A female Riffleshell awaiting a nosy darter

A female Riffleshell awaiting a nosy darter

A darter has been caught by the mussel's shells and held for parasitization

A darter has been caught by the mussel’s shells and held for parasitization

This darter did not survive the ordeal. Note the larval mussels attached to the fish's opercles and eyes.

This darter did not survive the ordeal. Note the larval mussels attached to the fish’s opercles and eyes.

PIT tags, about the size of a large grain of rice

PIT tags, about the size of a large grain of rice

PIT tags are glued to the outside of the shell with an underwater epoxy

PIT tags are glued to the outside of the shell with an underwater epoxy

Release of tagged individuals to a site on Big Darby Creek

Release of tagged individuals to a site on Big Darby Creek

Dr. Ieva Roznere (OSU) monitoring the mussels with a PIT tag reader

Dr. Ieva Roznere (OSU) monitoring the mussels with a PIT tag reader

A pair of recovered individuals

A pair of recovered individuals

 

 

 

 

About the Author: Dr. G. Thomas Watters is Curator of Molluscs at the Museum of Biological Diversity.

The Rock Shells

Today’s blog is a gallery of some of the most exquisite lowly snails in the world – the rock snails of the family Muricidae. This marine group occurs from the high tide line to nearly abyssal depths and is found the world over. It is believed that they are predators on other molluscs and barnacles, scavengers, and ectoparasites on cnidarians – but we really don’t know very much about them. They can be pests of valuable commercial shellfish beds and some nuisance species have been accidentally moved around the globe. A few Mediterranean species were the source of Royal Tyrian Dye, supporting an industry that dates back millennia. The dye was the product of a compound in the saliva of the snails that turned a deep purple when treated correctly. The dye was so expensive to make that only royalty and clergy could afford to wear it – the purple in Catholic robes and sashes was originally made this way.

The muricids are popular with collectors, with some specimens selling for thousands of dollars. There are perhaps 1,700 species and more are described all the time. Current “hot spots” for new muricid species are New Caledonia, Somalia, and Indonesia.

 

Trochia cingulata (Linnaeus, 1758) South Africa

Trochia cingulata (Linnaeus, 1758)
South Africa

Rapana venosa (Valenciennes, 1846) Italy (introduced)

Rapana venosa (Valenciennes, 1846)
Italy (introduced)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pteropurpura falcata (Sowerby, 1834) Japan

Pteropurpura falcata (Sowerby, 1834)
Japan

murhidalgoi

Murexiella hidalgoi (Crosse, 1869) Florida

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pteropurpura debruini (Lorenz, 1989) South Africa

Pteropurpura debruini (Lorenz, 1989)
South Africa

Poirieria zelandica (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833) New Zealand

Poirieria zelandica (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833)
New Zealand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicopinnatus loebbeckei (Kobelt, 1979) Philippines

Chicopinnatus loebbeckei (Kobelt, 1979)
Philippines

Haustellum haustellum (Linnaeus, 1758) Philippines

Haustellum haustellum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Philippines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Murex ternispina Lamarck, 1822 Philippines

Murex ternispina Lamarck, 1822
Philippines

Homalocantha zamboi Burch & Burch, 1960 Philippines

Homalocantha zamboi Burch & Burch, 1960
Philippines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drupa grossularia Roding, 1798 French Polynesia

Drupa grossularia Roding, 1798
French Polynesia

Murexiella bojadorensis (Locard, 1897) Senegal

Murexiella bojadorensis (Locard, 1897)
Senegal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mancinella armigera (Link, 1807) Kiribati

Mancinella armigera (Link, 1807)
Kiribati

Vokesimurex bellus (Reeve, 1845) Venezuela

Vokesimurex bellus (Reeve, 1845)
Venezuela

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morula ambrosia (Houart, 1994) Marshall Islands

Morula ambrosia (Houart, 1994)
Marshall Islands

Chicoreus setionoi Houart, 2001 Indonesia

Chicoreus setionoi Houart, 2001
Indonesia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eupleura pectinata (Hinds, 1844) Panama West

Eupleura pectinata (Hinds, 1844) Panama West

Siratus alabaster (Reeve, 1845) Philippines

Siratus alabaster (Reeve, 1845)
Philippines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicoreus strigatus (Reeve, 1849) Philippines

Chicoreus strigatus (Reeve, 1849)
Philippines

Chicoreus corrugatus (Sowerby, 1840) Israel

Chicoreus corrugatus (Sowerby, 1840)
Israel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicoreus rossiteri (Crosse, 1872) Philippines

Chicoreus rossiteri (Crosse, 1872)
Philippines

Chicoreus cervicornis (Lamarck, 1822) Australia

Chicoreus cervicornis (Lamarck, 1822)
Australia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicopinnatus celinamarumai (Kosuge, 1980) Philippines

Chicopinnatus celinamarumai (Kosuge, 1980)
Philippines

Ceratostoma burnetti (Adams & Reeve, 1849) Korea

Ceratostoma burnetti (Adams & Reeve, 1849)
Korea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boreotrophon avalonensis (Dall, 1902) California

Boreotrophon avalonensis (Dall, 1902)
California

Attiliosa nodulifera (Sowerby, 1841) Philippines

Attiliosa nodulifera (Sowerby, 1841)
Philippines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author: Dr. G. Thomas Watters is Curator of Molluscs at the Museum of Biological Diversity.

Liggers, snails and the Everglades

 

Among the most beautiful snails are the Florida Tree Snails of the genus Liguus. Few groups of molluscs have such a storied past. Liguus, or Ligs, are arboreal snails occurring in southern Florida, Cuba, with a single species in western-most Haiti. The number of species involved depends on the people asked and the amount of beer consumed. Most people agree that Cuba, with an abundance of named species, was the ancestral home of the group. It was probably only a short hop for Guantánamo’s snails to the Haitian shore via hurricane-driven foliage. And many, including this writer, believe that Ligs were also the original Cuban refugees to Florida – rafted from Cuba to the Keys and the Gold Coast. And from there, all heck broke loose.

Delicatus form

Delicatus form

The situation is this: the snails live in hammocks, which are islands of trees surrounded by sawgrass and other soggy vegetation. To the tree-hugging snails this intervening area might as well be the ocean. They cannot, by themselves, get from Hammock A to Hammock B unless they are blown there on vegetation during hurricanes or perhaps rafted during floods. It is what happens next that is important. In all likelihood only a very few snails will make it to the next hammock. Should they survive and there are enough individuals to mate (they are hermaphrodites) or they are already pregnant, that next generation, now isolated, will have only a small fraction of the genetic variation of the original populations. The result is an enormous variety in shell coloration where specific patterns only occur in a single hammock or group of hammocks. Fifty-nine patterns have been named.

 

Barbouri form

Barbouri form

In Florida the Ligs occurred in three general areas: the Keys, the Gold Coast, and the Everglades. Collecting them, particularly in the Everglades, could be an adventure. And those adventurers called themselves Liggers. On foot, on horseback, in Model As, some of America’s most famous malacologists ventured into the chigger-infested, cotton-mouth crawling, gater guarded, sawgrass cutting landscape in the early 1900s. Long before GPS or even decent maps, these intrepid collectors produced hand-drawn maps and named and numbered hundreds of hammocks and cataloged the Ligs they found there. Archie Jones, perhaps the most experienced of the Liggers, once remarked that a Ligger needed two qualities: high stamina and low IQ.

 

 

Lignumvitae form

Lignumvitae form

These were not just shell collectors. They were conservationists. They quickly realized that many of the hammocks were being destroyed and others would inevitably be lost as well. The Keys were being cut-over for houses. The Gold Coast was being paved in concrete for posh hotels. The hammocks, and their unique snails, would soon be lost forever. But by 1957 snails were being transplanted out of harm’s way into the newly formed Everglades National Park where they would be protected. Most of the 59 “forms” still exist today but perhaps not in their original location. That’s where the Division of Molluscs comes into the picture.

 

 

We have one of the largest collections of Florida Liguus in the world, much of it purchased directly from Archie Jones. We were interested in zoogeographic patterns between the color forms. We used the powerful but complicated mapping software ArcIMS to plot the various distributions. But first we had to georeference the hundreds of Liguus hammocks – whose location you may remember was in the form of hand-drawn maps nearly a hundred years old. With the invaluable aid of several students we found and plotted the hammocks. Using a layer for each color form it was possible to compare distributions with each other and other environmental factors such as land type. The effort is available on line through our Division website. It is the first of its kind to map these snails (and the only one as far as I know). Go here and select “Maps:”

http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~molluscs/OSUM2/

Septentrionalis form

Septentrionalis form

Original range

Original range

Original range under concrete

Original range under concrete

Castaneozonatus form

Castaneozonatus form

Original range

Original range

Besides being beautiful shells the Ligs beg several very interesting ecological and phylogenetic questions. The elephant in the malacological room is: “Are they all the same species, just local variations, the product of a single Cuban introduction?” I suspect not. My pet hypothesis, lacking any data whatsoever, is that our Floridian Ligs are the product of several introductions of several species. “Are they color forms, species, subspecies, or something else?” I suspect something else. I think this is a fantastic opportunity for some student to investigate this complicated problem using emerging phylogenetic methods.

As a parting word, the Olde Tyme Liggers were not averse to a little ad hoc experimentation. “I wonder what would happen if we took this snail from Hammock A and this snail from Hammock B and put them in a snail-less Hammock C? Whaddaya think?” Well, they form hybrid color patterns, all dutifully named after colleagues and wives.

About the Author: Dr. G. Thomas Watters is Curator of Molluscs at the Museum of Biological Diversity.

Digitizing your Mussels

 

Museum accessibility has proceeded by leaps and bounds in a relatively short span of time. When I was working on chitons for my Masters Thesis I routinely made the pilgrimage to the National Museum, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and many others to examine material. Outside of the occasional loan or (God forbid!) an actual letter, there was no other way to get information out of a collection. This quickly changed with the advent of the world-wide web. Coupled with electronic databases, it was now possible for scientists to view catalog data without ever leaving the office. While in some ways this is unfortunate (every systematist should at some point visit these historical collections), the result was millions of records available at the touch of a keyboard. The OSU Division of Molluscs joined this effort early on by placing their freshwater mussel collection catalog online. The freshwater gastropod collection will be next to be uploaded for an estimated total approaching 2 million specimens – the largest freshwater mollusc collection in the world.

But still, these are only records. How do you know the specimen behind the record is correctly identified? What color is it? In what condition is the specimen? Is there some unusual feature that might be of interest? Enter the next phase – the creation and uploading of digital images of the specimens, and associated labels. With the image(s) available online, now a worker can see nearly everything he/she would ever want to know about the specimen – again without ever leaving the office. Sounds great. But to the people who actually curate the collections this is a quantum leap in effort. Specimens must be retrieved, set up for imaging, photographed, incorporated into the database, and uploaded.

The freshwater bivalve collection is in this laborious phase of producing digital images of specimens. With over 90,000 lots to image, this will not be a quick project. To speed up the effort we image not individual specimens, but individual lots. Scale bars are included in the photo to indicate approximate size. Labels are also imaged. These are incorporated into the catalog database so that all information may be viewed online – collection record, locality map, lot image, and label image. In our version, a button on the catalog screen will take the viewer to the images. The upload of this digitized catalog is some ways off, but stay tuned.

Proposed catalog with link to images

Proposed catalog with link to images

Digitized specimens and label

Digitized specimens and label

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author: Dr. G. Thomas Watters is Curator of Molluscs at the Museum of Biological Diversity.

 

Christmas Tree Ornament Snails

 

Halotudora gruneri (Pfeiffer, 1846)

Halotudora gruneri (Pfeiffer, 1846)

As the holidays are upon us, it is comforting to know that even the lowliest creatures celebrate the season.

The Caribbean land snails in the family Annulariidae do a lot of strange things, but among the strangest is their propensity to hang upside down from a thread or threads of hardened mucus like Christmas tree ornaments. Why they do this is a mystery. But as near as we can tell, many of them do it – no matter where they are from: Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Curaçao, Guatemala – their entire zoogeographic range. This suggests that this odd behavior is quite ancient. The thread-spinning trait must have evolved very early on in the history of these snails before they dispersed throughout the Caribbean and Central America.

When do they do it? Well, they seem to do it at night and they will suspend themselves from caves, trees, walls – pretty much anything, including other snails. They secrete a mucus thread or threads from which they hang. To my knowledge no one has actually seen them do it. The previous evening they are crawling around, the next morning they are suspended. From where is the thread produced? Unknown. The snails have an operculum – a trapdoor attached to their foot that seals the shell opening when the animal is withdrawn. The operculum is clamped down on the thread suggesting that the animal does not have to expend energy holding on to the thread.

Why do they do it? No one knows. But the thread is very fragile – the slightest touch will break it, causing the snail to fall to the ground. The most plausible suggestion as to why they bother is that the behavior is an antipredator device. Any would-be predator crawling down the thread would cause the thread to break, thus losing the snail and their potential lunch. The fall apparently does not harm the snail; dented and broken shells are common in some species.

The photos below show some ornamental snails from Guatemala.

Diplopoma osberti (Tristram, 1861)

Diplopoma osberti (Tristram, 1861)

Gouldipoma coltrorum Watters, 2014

Gouldipoma coltrorum Watters, 2014

Parachondria rubicundus (Morelet, 1849)

Parachondria rubicundus (Morelet, 1849)

Diplopoma rigidulum (Morelet, 1851)

Diplopoma rigidulum (Morelet, 1851)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author: Dr. G. Thomas Watters is Curator of Molluscs at the Museum of Biological Diversity.

A classy group of land snails

 

In addition to freshwater molluscs, we also work with terrestrial snails. Our research is concentrated on the Caribbean snail family Annulariidae (ca. 700 species). A few examples are shown below.

About the author: Dr. G. Thomas Watters is the Curator of Molluscs

Hawai’ian Tree Snails – an old and unlikely Ohio connection

 

Hawai’i is (or was) home to a great diversity of tree snails in the families Achatinellidae and Amastridae. It seemed as if every valley on every island had its own suite of species. Many were quite common. But that was then. Now they have been decimated by the introduction, accidental or otherwise, of invasive hogs and other animals brought by European settlers. Some species, even an entire genus, have become extinct.

Wesley Newcomb

Wesley Newcomb

Wesley Newcomb (1808-1892) was a physician, social activist, and conchologist. Born in New York, he moved from Albany to California in 1849, then to Hawai’i in 1850 due, in part, to his wife’s ill health. There he practiced medicine, served on the Board of Health, became active in the Hawaiian Temperance Movement, and collected a lot of shells. In 1855 he returned to Albany. His collection was purchased by Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, for $15,000, and it resides there still. An avid shell collector, Newcomb traveled to Europe, the West Indies, and Central and South America. He described over 100 species, including many Hawai’ian Achatinellidae and Amastridae.

The Division of Molluscs has a modest collection of Hawai’ian Achatinellidae and Amastridae originating from Newcomb. The collection was either purchased by or traded with Henry Moores in the mid-1800’s. (Henry Moores, 1812-1896, assembled one of the most diverse shell collections of his time. The Ohio State University purchased this collection, 3,500 specimens for $1,750, about 1890). Card stock used for labels cut from postcards date from the 1850s. The collection has an accompanying list of specimens, some notes, and a short letter to Moores. The curious, printed handwriting matches that of Newcomb’s labels now at the Paleontological Research Institute at Ithaca, New York, and there is no doubt that they are Newcomb’s specimens. Specimens have as many as six labels, with different numbers, in the same vials. However, according to Newcomb’s accompanying list, he inserted “card” labels with a number that matched the number on the list. These card labels, often small squares, have numbers written by Newcomb’s hand and can easily be discerned from the later labels added to the specimens. Some specimens are numbered in ink or pencil, but these numbers were added by Moores. The specimens were apparently sent to Moores after Newcomb’s return to the mainland.

Portion of letter to Moores

Portion of letter to Moores

Some aspects of the collection are interesting from a personal view of Newcomb. Many of the specimens were dirty and bear on the small card labels the advice “wash them” (we have carefully done so in a sonic cleaner). The list arrived before the shells as Newcomb tells Moores to “Wait for the Waggon! (Express)” And one label bears the opinionated observation: “‘guernea‘ W.H.P. [crossed out, then added:] A. perversa? Swains. ‘guernea‘ of some fool.” Newcomb’s “fool” was apparently contemporary fellow Hawai’ian conchologist, William Harper Pease.


 Below are some of Newcomb’s own specimens now in the Division of Molluscs.

About the Author: Dr. G. Thomas Watters is the Curator of Molluscs.