Department of Science, Northern Arctic Federal University, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation.
Department of Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Loei Rajabhat University, Loei, Thailand.
Sci Rep. 2017 May 18;7(1):2135. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-02312-z.
The concept of long-lived (ancient) lakes has had a great influence on the development of evolutionary biogeography. According to this insight, a number of lakes on Earth have existed for several million years (e.g., Baikal and Tanganyika) and represent unique evolutionary hotspots with multiple intra-basin radiations. In contrast, rivers are usually considered to be variable systems, and the possibility of their long-term existence during geological epochs has never been tested. In this study, we reconstruct the history of freshwater basin interactions across continents based on the multi-locus fossil-calibrated phylogeny of freshwater mussels (Unionidae). These mussels most likely originated in Southeast and East Asia in the Jurassic, with the earliest expansions into North America and Africa (since the mid-Cretaceous) following the colonization of Europe and India (since the Paleocene). We discovered two ancient monophyletic mussel radiations (mean age ~51-55 Ma) within the paleo-Mekong catchment (i.e., the Mekong, Siam, and Malacca Straits paleo-river drainage basins). Our findings reveal that the Mekong may be considered a long-lived river that has existed throughout the entire Cenozoic epoch.
长寿（古老）湖泊的概念对进化生物地理学的发展产生了巨大影响。根据这一观点，地球上的一些湖泊已经存在了数百万年（例如，贝加尔湖和坦噶尼喀湖），并且代表了具有多种盆地内辐射的独特进化热点。相比之下，河流通常被认为是可变系统，它们在地质时代长期存在的可能性从未得到过检验。在这项研究中，我们基于淡水贻贝（贻贝科）的多基因座化石校准系统发育，重建了大陆间淡水流域相互作用的历史。这些贻贝很可能起源于侏罗纪时期的东南亚和东亚，最早的扩张是在中白垩世之后进入北美洲和非洲（自中白垩世以来），随后在古近纪时期进入欧洲和印度（自始新世以来）。我们在古湄公河流域（即湄公河、暹罗和马六甲海峡古河流流域）发现了两个古老的单系贻贝辐射（平均年龄约为 51-55 百万年）。我们的研究结果表明，湄公河可以被视为一条存在于整个新生代的长寿河流。
