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On the controversial questions of the taxonomy of Bivalvia (Mollusca): Too many species or too few characters?

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Abstract

Problems emerging in the course of taxonomic studies and species diagnostics of freshwater bivalves are discussed by the example of one of the bivalve groups (the family Unionidae). It is shown that one of the causes of the current, diametrically opposing views on specific and generic systematics of Bivalvia is the fact that researchers revising taxonomic groups ignore complex analysis of several independent characters (conchological, anatomical, biochemical, genetic, etc.).

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  1. Petersburg State Transport University, Moskovskii prosp. 9, St. Petersburg, 190031, Russia

    A. L. Rizhinashvili

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  1. A. L. Rizhinashvili
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Correspondence to A. L. Rizhinashvili.

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Original Russian Text © A.L. Rizhinashvili, 2011, published in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Biologicheskaya, 2011, No. 3, pp. 370–377.

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Rizhinashvili, A.L. On the controversial questions of the taxonomy of Bivalvia (Mollusca): Too many species or too few characters?. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 38, 311–317 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359011030125

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