Solution of taxonomic status of <i>Unio mongolicus </i>Middendorff, 1851 (Bivalvia: Unionidae) from the type locality in Transbaikalia and history of its taxonomy

Abstract

Unio mongolicus Middendorff, 1851 (Bivalvia: Unionidae) was described from Gorbitza mountain stream (in the east of Trans-Baikal Territory, Russia) and the taxonomy has changed over the past century and a half. A specimen of Middendorffinaia mongolica from the Gorbitza stream collected 160 years later is a match with the type illustration of Unio mongolicus from the type locality. Comparison of the shell morphology of the type specimen of U. mongolicus with the modern specimen collected from this location, combined with our analyses of molecular, anatomical and conchological data of M. cf. mongolica species from rivers of the Upper Amur River Basin and the far eastern Russia, revealed that these taxa all belong to a single polymorphic species. The molecular analysis of the COI gene fragment of mtDNA of examined Comparatory Species assigned to Middendorffinaia Moskvicheva et Starobogatov, 1973 confirmed they are only intraspecific forms of M. mongolica. Morphological and genetic distances between M. mongolica and Nodularia douglasiae (Griffith et Pidgeon, 1833) confirmed their assignment to two independent genera. Based on conchological characteristics and anatomical features, the differences between morphologically similar species M. mongolica, N. douglasiae and Unio crassus Retzius, 1788 were determined. History of the taxonomic changes for Unio mongolicus is discussed.