Fossil glochidia (Bivalvia, Unionidae): identification and value in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions

Preserved valves of fossil glochidia have been recovered from Holocene lake marls at Quidenham Mere, UK. Detailed morphological comparisons with glochidia removed from live adult unionids have enabled confident identification of the fossil glochidia as those of Anodonta anatina. Fossil glochidia are potentially powerful tools in the interpretation of palaeoenvironments. Different species of freshwater mussels are known to release glochidia at different times of the year and, therefore, the occurrence of fossil glochidia can provide information on the season during which sediments accumulated. Furthermore, glochidia can provide information on the presence of certain fish species and on water depth.

[1]  R. Patzner,et al.  Growth and age structure of the swan mussel Anodonta cygnea (L.) at different depths in lake Mattsee (Salzburg, Austria) , 1996, Hydrobiologia.

[2]  D. Aldridge.  The Morphology, Growth and Reproduction of Unionidae (Bivalvia) in a Fenland Waterway , 1999 .

[3]  W. Foster.  BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS of the CAMBRIDGE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY , 1995 .

[4]  S. Peglar.  Mid- and late-Holocene vegetation history of Quidenham Mere, Norfolk, UK interpreted using recurrent groups of taxa , 1993 .

[5]  Hojun Song,et al.  Scanning electron microscope studies of the minute shell structure of glochidia of three species of Unionidae (Bivalvia) from Korea , 1993 .

[6]  K. Bennett,et al.  Fire and man in post-glacial woodlands of Eastern England , 1990 .

[7]  P. Kat,et al.  PARASITISM AND THE UNIONACEA (BIVALVIA) , 1984 .

[8]  J. G. Mather,et al.  THE DISTRIBUTIONS OF THREE SYMPATRIC MUSSEL SPECIES (BIVALVIA: UNIONIDAE) IN BUDWORTH MERE, CHESHIRE , 1982 .

[9]  A. Ghent,et al.  Depth distributions determined with SCUBA, and associated studies of the freshwater unionid clams Elliptio complanata and Anodonta grandis in Lake Bernard, Ontario , 1978 .

[10]  I. Brodniewicz.  On glochidia of the genera Unio and Anodonta from the Quaternary fresh-water sediments of Poland , 1968 .

[11]  B. W. Sparks.  Non-Marine Mollusca and Quaternary Ecology , 1964 .

[12]  B. W. Sparks.  10. THE ECOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF QUATERNARY NON‐MARINE MOLLUSCA , 1961 .

[13]  E. A. Smith..  MOLLUSCA , 1890, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.