Cumberlandia Explained
Cumberlandia is a genus of freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve molluscs in the family Margaritiferidae, the freshwater pearl mussels.[1]
The following single extant species is included in this genus:[2]
In addition, two fossil species are also known from the Early Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation of Niger:[3]
- †Cumberlandia rhazensis (Mongin, 1968)
- †Cumberlandia saharica (Mongin, 1968)
Both fossil species were previously classified in the genus Margaritifera, but were reclassified into Cumberlandia on the basis of their morphology in a 2018 revision of the family Margaritiferidae. This makes Cumberlandia a very ancient genus that was formerly more widespread. The common ancestor of Pseudunio and Cumberlandia is thought to have inhabited what is now the Mediterranean region during the Early Cretaceous, with some ancestral Cumberlandia dispersing south to Africa and others dispersing west to eastern North America, explaining their present and former distribution.[4]
Notes and References
- Web site: Molluscabase - Cumberlandia Ortmann, 1912 . 2023-08-26 . molluscabase.org.
- Web site: MUSSELpdb valid gen. Cumberlandia species . 2023-08-26 . mussel-project.uwsp.edu.
- Lapparent . Albert F. de . Mongin . Denise . 1968-01-01 . Etude paleontologique de lamellibranches limniques recoltes dans le Cretace inferieur du Niger (Afrique) . Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France . S7-X . 2 . 148–155 . 10.2113/gssgfbull.s7-x.2.148 . 1777-5817.
- Lopes-Lima . Manuel . Bolotov . Ivan N. . Do . Van Tu . Aldridge . David C. . Fonseca . Miguel M. . Gan . Han Ming . Gofarov . Mikhail Y. . Kondakov . Alexander V. . Prié . Vincent . Sousa . Ronaldo . Varandas . Simone . Vikhrev . Ilya V. . Teixeira . Amílcar . Wu . Rui-Wen . Wu . Xiaoping . 2018-10-01 . Expansion and systematics redefinition of the most threatened freshwater mussel family, the Margaritiferidae . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 127 . 98–118 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.04.041 . 1055-7903. 10198/18714 . free .
