Abstract
Freshwater mussels are sensitive to habitat and water quality, revealing the fastest rates of human-mediated global extinction among aquatic animals. These animals are especially diverse in tropical Asia, the faunas of which are characterized by high levels of endemism. Here we describe four new species and four new subspecies of freshwater mussels from Myanmar. Leoparreysia whittenisp. nov., the smallest representative of this genus, was discovered from the Ayeyarwady and Chindwin rivers. Radiatula myitthanensissp. nov. and R. chindwinensissp. nov. were recorded from the Chindwin Basin, and R. mouhoti haungthayawensisssp. nov. has been discovered from the Haungthayaw River. Indochinella pugio has been revised with a description of three subspecies: I. pugio viridissimassp. nov. from the Sittaung, Bilin and Bago rivers, I. pugio daweiensisssp. nov. from the Dawei River, and I. pugio paradoxassp. nov. from the Haungthayaw River. Yaukthwa elongatulasp. nov., a peculiar species, conchologically resembling representatives of the genus Solenaia (Gonideinae) with ultra-elongated shell was found in the Chindwin Basin. Our records highlight that tropical Asia harbors numerous, but still overlooked local endemic lineages of freshwater bivalves, which may be on the brink of extinction due to the high anthropogenic and climate change impacts.
Highlights
Freshwater bivalves contribute to or provide a plethora of ecosystem functions and services[1]
Four lineages are assigned to valid species, i.e. Leoparreysia whitteni sp. nov., Radiatula myitthanensis sp. nov., R. chindwinensis sp. nov., and Yaukthwa elongatula sp. nov., because they share high levels of molecular divergence from sister clades
We introduce eight new mussel taxa belonging to the genera Leoparreysia, Radiatula, Indochinella, and Yaukthwa
Summary
Freshwater bivalves contribute to or provide a plethora of ecosystem functions and services[1]. Further taxonomic research is necessary to develop a national conservation action plan for freshwater bivalves for Myanmar. This plan is urgently needed due to the current high rates of economic development and cropland expansion, leading to the rapid degradation of freshwater habitats[12]. We introduce the new taxa on the basis of an integrative approach combining morphological, molecular and biogeographic evidences. This approach seems to be the most appropriate tool to uncover the diversity of freshwater mollusks in species-rich areas such as the Oriental Region[6,7,8,9,13,14]
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