Non-marine mollusks have the highest number of documented extinctions of any major taxonomic group. Given their conservation status and the numerous cases of taxonomic uncertainty concerning freshwater mollusks in particular, the recognition of potentially endangered species is critically important. Here, we evaluate the genetic distinctiveness and phylogenetic position of a freshwater snail restricted to a series of geothermal springs within the Owyhee River drainage in Oregon (the ‘Owyhee wet-rock physa’). Because these snails closely resemble Physella (Petrophysa) zionis, a wet-rock physa that occurs in a small area in Zion National Park (Utah), the Owyhee wet-rock physa is presumably either closely related to or represents a disjunct population of P. zionis. However, phylogenetic analyses of sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I and nuclear first and second internal transcribed spacer gene regions indicate that the Owyhee wet-rock physa is genetically distinct from other physid species. Despite exhibiting similar morphologies, the Owyhee wet-rock physa and P. zionis are distantly related physids; instead, the Owyhee wet-rock physa is most closely related to a population of physids from central California. These results suggest that convergent evolution may be responsible for the similar shell morphologies of the Owyhee wet-rock physa and P. zionis. Furthermore, the close relationship between physid populations in southeastern Oregon and central California suggests a historical connection between the Owyhee River and river drainages to the south. Finally, we recommend that the Owyhee wet-rock physa be considered critically endangered based on its extremely limited distribution.

A newly discovered land snail species, Partula meyeri n. sp., of the highly threatened South Pacific pulmonate gastropod family Partulidae, is described for Raiatea, one of the Society Islands, French Polynesia. This species is distinct from other members of its family by the morphology of its shell, which is thin and translucent, both characteristics similar to most members of the partulid genus Samoana. However, molecular data, to be published in a separate paper, show P. meyeri to belong to the genus Partula. Other distinguishing characters of the shell of P. meyeri are its relatively short, attenuate spire, correspondingly large body whorl, andin combination with the other characters-its brown shade of coloration and expanded but thin peristome.

Background A third of all known freshwater mollusk extinctions worldwide have occurred within a single medium-sized American drainage. The Mobile River Basin (MRB) of Alabama, a global hotspot of temperate freshwater biodiversity, was intensively industrialized during the 20th century, driving 47 of its 139 endemic mollusk species to extinction. These include the ancylinid limpet Rhodacmea filosa, currently classified as extinct (IUCN Red List), a member of a critically endangered southeastern North American genus reduced to a single known extant population (of R. elatior) in the MRB. Methodology/Principal Findings We document here the tripling of known extant populations of this North American limpet genus with the rediscovery of enduring Rhodacmea filosa in a MRB tributary and of R. elatior in its type locality: the Green River, Kentucky, an Ohio River Basin (ORB) tributary. Rhodacmea species are diagnosed using untested conchological traits and we reassessed their systematic and conservation status across both basins using morphometric and genetic characters. Our data corroborated the taxonomic validity of Rhodacmea filosa and we inferred a within-MRB cladogenic origin from a common ancestor bearing the R. elatior shell phenotype. The geographically-isolated MRB and ORB R. elatior populations formed a cryptic species complex: although overlapping morphometrically, they exhibited a pronounced phylogenetic disjunction that greatly exceeded that of within-MRB R. elatior and R. filosa sister species. Conclusions/Significance Rhodacmea filosa, the type species of the genus, is not extinct. It persists in a Coosa River tributary and morphometric and phylogenetic analyses confirm its taxonomic validity. All three surviving populations of the genus Rhodacmea merit specific status. They collectively contain all known survivors of a phylogenetically highly distinctive North American endemic genus and therefore represent a concentrated fraction of continental freshwater gastropod biodiversity. We recommend the establishment of a proactive targeted conservation program that may include their captive propagation and reintroduction.

Members of the gastropod genus Ferrissia Walker, 1903, have a near-cosmopolitan distribution in freshwater ecosystems. Five North American species, distinguished by conchological, habitat, and distributional details, are generally recognized. However, they can be difficult to diagnose in practice, and we aimed to comprehensively revisit their systematics and taxonomy using molecular phylogenies. Our primary result was congruent for all three genetic markers: two highly distinctive Ferrissia Glades, each encompassing multiple nominal species, were widely distributed across North American watersheds in both lentic and in lotic habitats. One clade was restricted to North America and was exclusively composed of lotic F. rivularis (Say, 1817) and lentic F. parallela (Haldemann, 1841). These two taxa exhibited geographic, rather than taxonomic, genetic structuring, strongly implying that they are conspecific and that F. parallela is a junior synonym of F. (Ferrissia) rivularis. The other clade contained three North American taxa, F. fragilis (Tryon, 1863) and putative specimens of F. mcneilli Walker, 1925, and F. walker (Pilsbry & Ferriss, 1907), in addition to the Hawaiian F. sharpi (Sykes, 1900), as well as multiple invasive Eurasian founder populations. All four taxa shared overlapping genotypes and shell phenotypes, prompting us to conclude that they are conspecific with F. fragilis having taxonomic priority. This New World species had robust phylogenetic links to Old World congeners, thereby enabling us to unite global septum-forming Ferrissia species under the subgenus Kincaidilla Hannibal, 1912. Ferrissia rivularis and F. fragilis differed in a number of conchological traits, including maximum body size, details of apex positioning and orientation, and the ability to form a septum. The two former traits were sufficient to distinguish sympatric populations.

BACKGROUND:The mass extirpation of the island of Moorea's endemic partulid tree snail fauna, following the deliberate introduction of the alien predator Euglandina rosea, represents one of the highest profile conservation crises of the past thirty years. All of the island's partulids were thought to be extirpated by 1987, with five species persisting in zoos, but intensive field surveys have recently detected a number of surviving wild populations. We report here a mitochondrial (mt) phylogenetic estimate of Moorean partulid wild and captive lineage survival calibrated with a reference museum collection that pre-dates the predator's introduction and that also includes a parallel dataset from the neighboring island of Tahiti.RESULTS:Although severe winnowing of Moorea's mt lineage diversity has occurred, seven of eight (six Partula; two Samoana) partulid tip clades remain extant. The extinct mt clade occurred predominantly in the P. suturalis species complex and it represented a major component of Moorea's endemic partulid treespace. Extant Moorean mt clades exhibited a complex spectrum of persistence on Moorea, in captivity, and (in the form of five phylogenetically distinct sister lineages) on Tahiti. Most notably, three Partula taxa, bearing two multi-island mt lineages, have survived decades of E. rosea predation on Moorea (P. taeniata) and in the valleys of Tahiti (P. hyalina and P. clara). Their differential persistence was correlated with intrinsic attributes, such as taxonomy and mt lineages, rather than with their respective within-island distribution patterns.CONCLUSION:Conservation efforts directed toward Moorean and Tahitian partulids have typically operated within a single island frame of reference, but our discovery of robust genealogical ties among survivors on both islands implies that a multi-island perspective is required. Understanding what genetic and/or ecological factors have enabled Partula taeniata, P. hyalina and P. clara to differentially survive long-term direct exposure to the predator may provide important clues toward developing a viable long term conservation plan for Society Island partulid tree snails.

The spectacular partulid tree snail fauna of the Society Islands has been almost completely extirpated in recent decades following the deliberate introduction of the alien carnivorous snail Euglandina rosea. The greatest loss has Occurred oil the island of Raiatea, French Polynesia, home to all estimated 34 species (including 33 single-island endemics), all of which have been deemed extirpated in the wild. However, we report here the February 2006 discovery of two surviving Raiatean partulid lineages oil the upper slopes of Mount Tefatua, the highest peak oil the island. They have been identified using morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses, the latter approach employing available museum and captive reference samples. One population, at 750 in elevation, consisted of Samoana attenuata. It has a multi-island distribution within the archipelago and surviving populations persist also on Tahiti and Moorea. A second population, present Just below the summit at 950 m, consisted of a previously unstudied morphospecies and it has been formally described as Partula meyeri. It is unclear if a stable altitudinal refuge from E. rosea predation exists oil Mount Tefatua but the unexpected discovery of these two surviving montane populations raises the possibility of preserving some fraction of Raiatea's endemic tree snail diversity in the wild.

Oceanic islands frequently support endemic faunal radiations that are highly vulnerable to introduced predators [1]. This vulnerability is epitomized by the rapid extinction in the wild of all but five of 61 described Society Islands partulid tree snails [2], following the deliberate introduction of an alien biological control agent: the carnivorous snail Euglandina rosea[3]. Tahiti's tree snail populations have been almost completely extirpated and three of the island's eight endemic Partula species are officially extinct, a fourth persisting only in captivity [2]. We report a molecular phylogenetic estimate of Tahitian Partula mitochondrial lineage survival calibrated with a 1970 reference museum collection that pre-dates the predator's 1974 introduction to the island [4]. Although severe winnowing of lineage diversity has occurred, none of the five primary Tahitian Partula clades present in the museum samples is extinct. Targeted conservation measures, especially of montane refuge populations, may yet preserve a representative sub-sample of Tahiti's endemic tree snail genetic diversity in the wild.

Inter-archipelago exchange networks were an important aspect of prehistoric Polynesian societies. We report here a novel genetic characterization of a prehistoric exchange network involving an endemic Pacific island tree snail, Partula hyalina. It occurs in the Society (Tahiti only), Austral and Southern Cook Islands. Our genetic data, based on museum, captive and wild-caught samples, establish Tahiti as the source island. The source lineage is polymorphic in shell coloration and contains a second nominal species, the dark-shelled Partula clara, in addition to the white-shelled P. hyalina. Prehistoric inter-island introductions were non-random: they involved white-shelled snails only and were exclusively inter-archipelago in scope. Partulid shells were commonly used in regional Polynesian jewellery, and we propose that the white-shelled P. hyalina, originally restricted to Tahiti, had aesthetic value throughout these archipelagoes. Demand within the Society Islands could be best met by trading dead shells, but a low rate of inter-archipelago exchange may have prompted the establishment of multiple founder populations in the Australs and Southern Cooks. The alien carnivorous land snail Euglandina rosea has recently devastated populations of all 61 endemic species of Society Island partulid snails. Southern Cooks and Australs P. hyalina now represent the only unscathed wild populations remaining of this once spectacular land snail radiation.

A newly discovered land snail species, Partula meyeri n. sp., of the highly threatened South Pacific pulmonate gastropod family Partulidae, is described for Raiatea, one of the Society Islands, French Polynesia. This species is distinct from other members of its family by the morphology of its shell, which is thin and translucent, both characteristics similar to most members of the partulid genus Samoana. However, molecular data, to be published in a separate paper, show P. meyeri to belong to the genus Partula. Other distin- guishing characters of the shell of P. meyeri are its relatively short, attenuate spire, correspondingly large body whorl, and—in combination with the other characters—its brown shade of coloration and expanded but thin peristome.

The North American freshwater limpet genus Laevapex (Walker, 1903) is a ubiquitous inhabitant of lentic and slow-moving lotic habitats east of the Rocky Mountains, but uncertainty clouds its systematic affinities, the phylogenetic validity of its constituent nominal species, and its degree of genetic connectivity among drainages. We addressed these issues by sampling the genus throughout much of its collective range and constructing representative nuclear and mitochondrial (mt) gene trees, in addition to performing morphometric analyses of shell shape variation. Our results identify neotropical Gundlachia and South American Uncancylus as sister lineages for Laevapex and reveal a pronounced sub-familial dichotomy within the Ancylidae, separating these three New World genera from a Holarctic (Ferrissia (Ancylus, Rhodacmea)) sister clade. Five nominal taxa (L. fuscus, L. diaphanus, L. peninsulae, L. sp., and “F.” arkansasensis), indistinguishable in our morphometric analyses, were polyphyletic in the mt gene trees, exhibited modest levels (<3.9%) of genetic divergence in the primary (103 of 109 individuals) mt clade and, with one minor exception, they appeared fixed for a single nuclear ITS-2 genotype. Although complicated by the presence of rare, highly divergent mt lineages (of either introgressive or persistent ancestral polymorphic origin) in some populations, the molecular data were consistent with a taxonomic conclusion that these five nominal taxa represent a single polymorphic lineage of the type species L. fuscus. AMOVA analyses indicated that 56% of the observed mt variation could be attributed to among population differences, only two of 36 haplotypes were detected in more than one sampling location, and estimates of among-population mt gene flow were generally low at both regional and continental scales. Unrooted network analyses revealed a number of mt tip clades, one restricted to the southwestern part of the range, the remainder having overlapping distributions in eastern North America. All of the eastern tip clades occurred in the Mid-Atlantic region, and these samples displayed by far the highest levels of collective mt diversity. However, directional gene flow estimates indicated that this region has been a recipient (especially from Alabama populations), rather than a source of haplotypic diversity, implying that it likely represents a center of overlap, not a primary ice age refugium, for this limpet species.

Pleurocerid gastropods are ecologically prominent and diverse members of the North American freshwater malacofauna. However, their systematic study has been greatly complicated by pronounced conchological variability. Almost 1,000 taxa have been described north of Mexico, although this inflated estimate has been reduced by serial synonymization to 152 or 153 nominal species, comprising seven genera. Pleurocerid diversity is not evenly spread across continental watersheds. Only nine nominal species, placed in the genus Juga, are found in the drainages west of the Rocky Mountains. Juga was expressly erected to house the western taxa, but there are no diagnostic conchological characters to separate them from eastern con-familials and they had previously been regarded as western lineages of Elimia (formerly known as Goniobasis ). Consequently, identification keys have used biogeographic criteria to distinguish Juga (west of the Continental Divide) from Elimia (east of the Continental Divide) taxa. Until recently, the systematic validity of the genus Juga was rather tenuous, resting primarily on hints of oviductal groove structural distinctions. However, molecular phylogenetic data have now clearly demonstrated Juga’s separate evolutionary history. In a study of North American pleurocerid relationships, three species of Juga, including the type species Juga silicula (Gould, 1847), formed a robust clade sister to all of the genotyped eastern taxa. A subsequent study incorporating a global sampling of Cerithioidea emphasized the phylogenetic distinctiveness of Juga, finding it to be sister to the eastern Asian pleurocerid genera Hua and Semisulcospira. However, not all Juga species have been incorporated into molecular phylogenies and there are morphological and karyological lines of evidence to suggest that some nominal taxa occurring in the Columbia River drainage may actually be geographically disjunct members of the eastern genus Elimia. A century ago, a species of pleurocerid, Goniobasis columbiensis Whiteaves, 1905, was described from material collected in 1883 by J.B. Tyrrell at the headwaters of the Columbia River that represented ‘the first non-plicate Goniobasis, of the type of G. livescens, that has been found in the Pacific drainage system.’ Goodrich examined Whiteave’s type material and found that the ‘shell characters and opercula are identical with those of livescens of Lake Erie,’ but concluded that they were more likely to represent mislabeled eastern specimens rather than a geographically disjunct western population. More recently, a karyological study of North American pleurocerid taxa included a single Juga species, J. hemphilli (Henderson, 1935), sampled from Benton County, Oregon that exhibited an identical ideogram to E. livescens (Menke, 1830). Though constrained by the lack of karyological data for other Juga taxa, this surprising result suggested to us that J. hemphilli might well represent a cryptic western Elimia lineage. Henderson described Juga hemphilli, together with two subspecies, from lower Columbia River drainage locations, although Goodrich subsequently listed it, together with Whiteave’s G. columbiensis, as a species incerta. The goal of our study was to phylogenetically test, using gene trees, the hypothesis that Juga hemphilli is a cryptic western member of the genus Elimia. Specimens of J. hemphilli dallesensis (Henderson, 1935), sampled from the type locality, were kindly provided by F.G. Thompson (Fig. 1) and, together with the representatives of all extant eastern North American pleurocerid genera except for Lithasia (Table 1), they were sequenced for a portion of the nuclear large subunit ribosomal gene (28S). The choice of this gene fragment was driven by the need to avoid a potentially confounding issue – within-species mitochondrial (mt) polyphyly – that has complicated freshwater cerithioidean molecular phylogenetic studies using exclusively mt markers. –24 This is especially pertinent for North American pleurocerid taxa where pronounced within-population mt heterogeneity may occur and the only available case of mt/ nuclear genome comparison is surprisingly incongruent. Mobile basin Leptoxis picta (Lea, 1841) and L. taeniata (Tyron, 1873) were indistinguishable in terms of allozyme frequencies at nine loci but exhibited highly divergent mt genotypes, both in terms of sequence divergence [19% for mt large RNA subunit (16S)] and phylogenetic placement. In addition to the target nuclear rDNA marker, we also took advantage of the extensive GenBank submissions of pleurocerid mt 16S

Since 2008, severe cases of emerging human adenovirus (HAdV) type 55 (HAdV-55) were reported sporadically in China. But no comparative studies had been conducted to discern the differences in epidemiologic and clinical abnormalities between HAdV-55 and other types (HAdV-7, HAdV-3, HAdV-14, HAdV-50, and HAdV-C).A multicenter surveillance study for adult and adolescent community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) was conducted prospectively in Beijing and Yan Tai between November 2010 and April 2012. A standardized data form was used to record clinical information. The viral DNA extracted from the clinical samples or adenovirus viral isolates was sequenced.Among 969 cases, 48 (5%) were identified as adenovirus pneumonia. Six branches were clustered: HAdV-55 in 21, HAdV-7 in 11, HAdV-3 in nine, HAdV-14 in four, HAdV-50 in two, and HAdV-C in one. Most HAdV-55 cases were identified during February and March. All the hypervariable regions of the hexon genes of the 21 HAdV-55 strains were completely identical. Patients who had HAdV-55 were about 10 years older (P = .027) and had higher pneumonia severity index scores (P = .030) compared with those with other types (HAdV-7, HAdV-3, HAdV-14, HAdV-50, and HAdV-C). Systemic BP was also higher among patients in the HAdV-55 group (P = .006). Unilateral or bilateral consolidations were the most common radiologic findings in both patients with HAdV-55 and those with other types (57.9% vs 36%). More than one-half of the patients were admitted to hospital; oxygen therapy was given to 29.2% of the 48 patients, and two needed mechanical ventilation.HAdV-55 has established itself as a major pneumonia pathogen in the Chinese population, and further surveillance and monitoring of this agent as a cause of CAP is warranted.

The taxonomy of southeast Asian gastrocoptine pupillid micro land snails is based almost entirely on shell morphological characters, with an emphasis on apertural barriers. We aimed to test the phylogenetic utility of these characters by constructing a molecular phylogeny, based on nuclear (28S rDNA) and mitochondrial (16S rDNA) ribosomal gene fragments, for a cross-section of Thai gastrocoptine diversity (15 species). Although characterized by high levels of genetic differentiation and homoplasy, our molecular dataset provided a number of novel insights into gastrocoptine evolution and systematics. Nominal conspecifics of three genera with replicate samples (Gyliotrachela, Hypselostoma and Anauchen) occupied contiguous sections of treespace; however, all three were paraphyletic. Two inferred examples of reductive loss in apertural lamellae were encountered: Aulacospira smaesarensis was firmly nested within an otherwise exclusively Gyliotrachela tip clade; the leaf-litter-dwelling Hypselostoma panhai exhibited striking conchological differentiation from its geographically proximate rock-dwelling sister taxon H. erawan. Our results caution against the unquestioned use of apertural dentition characteristics as diagnostic generic characters, imply that ecological transitions can lead to rapid morphological change, and suggest that a comprehensive sampling of both rock and leaf-litter lineages is required to fully flesh out phylogenetic relationships among regional pupillid microsnails. Our findings also emphasize the utility of geographically proximate gastrocoptine taxa to establishing sister relationships for locally endemic species, irrespective of apparent morphological similarity. However, not all Thai gastrocoptines have localized ranges; Krobylos maehongsonensis has apparently experienced geographically extensive patterns of gene flow and colonization.

Two new species of Diplommatinidae (Prosobranchia: Diplom- matinidae) are described from Thailand. Diplommatina inthanon n. sp. was collected from the highest peak of Thailand, Doi Inthanon at about 2,600 meters above sea level on moss colony of a walking trail. The new species has a conical-shaped, sinistral with frequent radial ribs without spiral striation. This is the second largest shell size of Thai Diplommatina after the first Diplommatina gigas Panha & Burch 2001. Diplommatina siriphumi n. sp. has a pupa-shaped, sinistral with strong radial ribs and weak spiral striation. The unique characteristic of the new species is the smooth surface with no radial rib on almost half area of the ultimate whorl.