Mitochondrial sequence data reveal population structure within Pustulosa pustulosa

Unionid mussels are among the most imperiled group of organisms in North America, and Pustulosa pustulosa is a freshwater species with a relatively wide latitudinal distribution that extends from southern Ontario, Canada, to Texas, USA. Considerable morphological and geographic variation in the genus Pustulosa (formerly Cyclonaias) has led to uncertainty over species boundaries, and recent studies have suggested revisions to species-level classifications by synonymizing C. aurea, C. houstonensis, C. mortoni, and C. refulgens with C. pustulosa (currently P. pustulosa). Owing to its wide range and shallow phylogenetic differentiation, we analyzed individuals of P. pustulosa using mitochondrial DNA sequence data under a population genetics framework. We included 496 individuals, which were comprised of 166 samples collected during this study and 330 additional sequences retrieved from GenBank. Pairwise Phi(ST) measures based on ND1 data suggested there may be up to five major geographic groups present within P. pustulosa. Genetic differentiation between regions within Texas was higher compared to populations from the Mississippi and Great Lakes populations, which may reflect differences in historical connectivity. Mitochondrial sequence data also revealed varying demographic histories for each major group suggesting each geographic region has also experienced differential population dynamics in the past. Future surveys should consider exploring variation within species after phylogeographic delimitation has been performed. In this study, we begin to address this need for freshwater mussels via the P. pustulosa system.