Jones Jess W, Taylor Zachary, Lane Timothy
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Virginia Tech University Blacksburg Virginia USA.
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Virginia Tech University Blacksburg Virginia USA.
Ecol Evol. 2023 Mar 24;13(3):e9906. doi: 10.1002/ece3.9906. eCollection 2023 Mar.
The Cumberlandian Combshell () is an endangered freshwater mussel endemic to the Tennessee and Cumberland River drainages, major tributaries of the Ohio River of the eastern United States. We conducted mask and snorkel surveys in May and June of 2021 and 2022 to locate, observe, photograph, and video female to document their unique mantle lures at sites in the Clinch River in Tennessee and Virginia. The mantle lure is morphologically specialized mantle tissue that mimics prey items of the host fish. The mantle lure of appears to mimic four distinct characteristics of the reproductive anatomy of the underside (ventral) of a gravid female crayfish, to include: (1) the external apertures of the oviducts located on the base of the third pair of walking legs, (2) crayfish larvae still encased in the egg membrane, (3) pleopods or claws, and (4) postembryonic eggs. Surprisingly, we observed males of displaying mantle lures that were anatomically complex and closely resembled the female mantle lure. The male lure similarly mimics oviducts, eggs, and pleopods but is diminutive (2-3 mm smaller in length or diameter) to those same structures in females. We describe for the first time the mantle lure morphology and mimicry of , showing its close resemblance to the reproductive anatomy of a gravid female crayfish, and a novel form of mimicry in males. To our knowledge, mantle lure displays in males have not been previously documented in freshwater mussels.
坎伯兰梳状贻贝（）是一种濒危的淡水贻贝，原产于美国东部俄亥俄河的主要支流田纳西河和坎伯兰河流域。我们在2021年5月和6月以及2022年进行了面罩和浮潜调查，以在田纳西州和弗吉尼亚州的克林奇河的一些地点定位、观察、拍摄和录制雌性的视频，记录它们独特的外套膜诱饵。外套膜诱饵是形态上专门化的外套膜组织，模仿寄主鱼类的猎物。的外套膜诱饵似乎模仿了怀孕雌性小龙虾腹部（腹侧）生殖解剖结构的四个不同特征，包括：（1）位于第三对步足基部的输卵管外部开口，（2）仍包裹在卵膜中的小龙虾幼体，（3）腹足或爪子，以及（4）胚胎后卵。令人惊讶的是，我们观察到的雄性展示出解剖结构复杂且与雌性外套膜诱饵非常相似的外套膜诱饵。雄性诱饵同样模仿输卵管、卵和腹足，但比雌性的相同结构小（长度或直径小2 - 3毫米）。我们首次描述了的外套膜诱饵形态和拟态，表明它与怀孕雌性小龙虾的生殖解剖结构非常相似，以及雄性的一种新的拟态形式。据我们所知，雄性的外套膜诱饵展示此前在淡水贻贝中尚未有记录。
