Research into molluscan phylogeny reveals deep animal relationship of snails and mussels
Snails, mussels, squids as different as they may look, they do have something in common: they all belong to the phylum Mollusca, also called molluscs. An international team of researchers headed by Kevin Kocot and Professor Ken Halanych, USA, with the participation of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany, has carried out research into the relationships among different molluscs as part of a wide-ranging molecular phylogenetic study. This phylum includes more than 100,000 extant species which are divided into eight major lineages. Up to now, it has been disputed how these groups are related to each other and how they evolved. Through their collaboration, the scientists have now assembled a comprehensive data set and analyzed it in order to reveal the phylogeny of Mollusca. Surprisingly, they found a close relationship between snails and mussels.