title: The strange case of the tetragenous Anodonta anatina.
abstract: Unionoid freshwater mussels have a unique life cycle with a form of parental care where the larvae are developed and kept inside the gills until release, followed by an obligate parasitic stage on fish. The size and location of the marsupium have been used as important phylogenetic characters in unionoids and in Anodontini its location was described exclusively on the outer demibranchs. Two recent surveys in a lake in the North of Portugal revealed large anodontine mussels morphological identical to Anodonta anatina but with glochidia in both demibranchs and with an unusual large size. In order to establish the identity of these mussels, a barcoding approach was used and an anatomical description of the gills and glochidia was performed. These mussels were identified as A. anatina and presented an inner demibranch pair with tripartite tubes. The glochidial sizes were much higher than previously reported for the species reaching maximum (length × height) values of 566 × 552 μm. This species reveals a high ecological plasticity being able to change its size and anatomy to increase its fertility as well as infestation performance. J. Exp. Zool. 325A:52-56, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: CIIMAR/CIMAR-Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.|IUCN/SSC-Mollusc Specialist Group, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lopes-Lima
authors.affiliation: CIIMAR/CIMAR-Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.|ICBAS/UP-Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hinzmann
authors.affiliation: CIMO-ESA-IPB-Mountain Research Centre, School of Agriculture, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, Bragança, Portugal.
authors.forename: Amílcar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.affiliation: CITAB-UTAD-Centre for Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Varandas
authors.affiliation: CIIMAR/CIMAR-Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.|ICBAS/UP-Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: CBMA-Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology, Department of Biology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ronaldo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.affiliation: CIIMAR/CIMAR-Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Elsa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Froufe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049877:Anodonta / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D017753:Ecosystem; D005399:Fishes / Q000469:parasitology; D005618:Fresh Water; D005880:Gills / Q000469:parasitology; D060106:Lakes; D007814:Larva / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development*; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D010802:Phylogeny