Publication Detail

How many lineages of the freshwater clam Corbicula have colonized North America? Recently a conchologically distinct form that possibly represents an additional lineage was discovered in the Illinois River. In their paper, Phylogenomic analyses confirm a novel invasive North American Corbicula (Bivalvia: Cyrenidae) lineage, former Mollusk Division postdoc, Amanda Haponski, and Mollusk Division Curator, Diarmaid Ó Foighil, used sequence data from thousands of nuclear gene regions to demonstrate that individuals of Corbicula with rust-colored rays, white nacre, and purple teeth are indeed distinct genetic units and represent an additional lineage in North America. The data also provide support for the clonal nature of this lineage and the lack of genomic admixture between it and other established lineages in North America.