Gibbosula sinensis, a new species on the verge of extinction of the world’s most threatened freshwater mussel family Margaritiferidae Henderson, 1929 from China (Bivalvia, Palaeoheterodonta, Unionida)

By

Chen, Zhongguang
Dai, Yu-Ting
Chen, Hui
Hu, Hong-Fei
Jiang, Jiao
Guo, Liang
Ouyang, Shan
Zhao, Xingxing
Wu, Xiaoping

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025-8-26

Original Publication

Zoosystematics and evolution

Volume

101

Series / Issue

Issue: 4

Pages

1613--1620

Subjects

Biodiversity , molluscs , Phylogeny , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.166584

 

Abstract

A new species of freshwater mussel, Gibbosula sinensis Z.-G. Chen, Y.-T. Dai, H. Chen & X.-P. Wu, sp. nov., is described from the lower Lancangjiang River Basin in Yunnan, China based on comparative morphology and molecular phylogeny. The new species can be distinguished from congeners by the oblong, slender, very curved, relatively thin, fragile, and rather smooth shell, the front end of the shell higher than the posterior end, and the special habitat selection. The new species is on the verge of extinction and urgently requires attention and protection.