Oriental freshwater mussels arose in East Gondwana and arrived to Asia on the Indian Plate and Burma Terrane

Ivan N Bolotov,Artyom A Lyubas,Ilya V Vikhrev,Mikhail Y Gofarov,Alexander V Kondakov,Zau Lunn,Barbara Feldmeyer,Nalluri V Subba Rao,Ekaterina S Konopleva,Nyein Chan,Sophie S Düwel,Alena A Tomilova,Than Win,Karl-Otto Nagel,Suresh Kumar Unnikrishnan,Rajeev Pasupuleti,Markus Pfenninger,Hasko F Nesemann

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-05257-0

Abstract

Freshwater mussels cannot spread through oceanic barriers and represent a suitable model to test the continental drift patterns. Here, we reconstruct the diversification of Oriental freshwater mussels (Unionidae) and revise their taxonomy. We show that the Indian Subcontinent harbors a rather taxonomically poor fauna, containing 25 freshwater mussel species from one subfamily (Parreysiinae). This subfamily most likely originated in East Gondwana in the Jurassic and its representatives arrived to Asia on two Gondwanan fragments (Indian Plate and Burma Terrane). We propose that the Burma Terrane was connected with the Indian Plate through the Greater India up to the terminal Cretaceous. Later on, during the entire Paleogene epoch, these blocks have served as isolated evolutionary hotspots for freshwater mussels. The Burma Terrane collided with mainland Asia in the Late Eocene, leading to the origin of the Mekong’s Indochinellini radiation. Our findings indicate that the Burma Terrane had played a major role as a Gondwanan “biotic ferry” alongside with the Indian Plate.

Highlights

Freshwater mussels are a diverse and widespread group of large aquatic invertebrates[1,2], providing a variety of ecosystem s ervices[3,4]
We present a complete reappraisal of Mesozoic freshwater mussel species that were described from the Deccan Intertrappean Beds (Upper Cretaceous) on the Indian Subcontinent and an overview of a few doubtful and uncertain recent taxa that were linked to India
Based on the multi-locus phylogeny, DNA-based species delimitation procedures (Supplementary Fig. 2), and morphological data, we show that the Unionidae fauna of the Indian Subcontinent contains members of one subfamily, the Parreysiinae (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Freshwater mussels (order Unionida) are a diverse and widespread group of large aquatic invertebrates[1,2], providing a variety of ecosystem s ervices[3,4]. The body of modern geological, tectonic, paleomagnetic, and paleontological research indicates that the Burma Terrane most likely represents a Gondwanan fragment that rafted to Asia together with the Indian Plate or as a part of a Trans-Tethyan island a rc[38,40,41,46,47,48,49,50] It is still unclear whether the continental drift could explain the biogeographic patterns in freshwater mussel distribution throughout the Oriental and Afrotropical regions and whether the disjunctive range of several Unionidae clades could reflect Mesozoic tectonic events[19,31,51,52]. We present a complete reappraisal of Mesozoic freshwater mussel species that were described from the Deccan Intertrappean Beds (Upper Cretaceous) on the Indian Subcontinent and an overview of a few doubtful and uncertain recent taxa that were linked to India

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion