Paula M. Mikkelsen

Assistant Curator, Malacology

Dr. Mikkelsen’s research program involves a relatively broad approach to systematics, phylogeny, and the evolution of diversity in marine mollusks, especially those from the southeastern U.S. and Caribbean. Mollusks comprise the second most species-rich animal group on earth, with >120,000 living species, and form the largest phylum in the sea. Marine malacology is, consequently, an expansive systematic field. Within the framework of a supportive research environment, Dr. Mikkelsen applies the full range of her broad group-knowledge to systematic questions and “whole-organism” education. Reflecting her background and technical interests, she is personally concentrating on morphological approaches to revisionary systematics, including dissection, histology, and computer-based analytical techniques, and microscopy at light- and scanning-EM levels; research collaborations with colleagues who concentrate on complementary techniques (e.g., molecular systematics) have also been productive. As is often true of invertebrate systematists working with highly diverse, poorly resolved taxa, the range of her research projects and professional goals is correspondingly broad. The following research strategies are being pursued:

(a) Long-term large-scale biodiversity analyses of molluscan faunas in the temperate-tropical western Atlantic, leading to an understanding of phylogenetic diversity through geographic diversity patterns. The current research program focuses on complete inventories, based on a solid taxonomic foundation, combining original collections with museum records and historic literature data. These products have had immediate application to the conservation and management of threatened near-shore marine communities, and include critical analyses of data sources routinely used in ecology-based biodiversity research.

(b) Rigorous systematic/phylogenetic studies focusing on comparative functional morphology of certain marine gastropod and bivalve groups, exploring conchological and anatomical characters within a total-evidence context. This is a particularly exciting academic field because many mollusks, even some of the most common, are known only from shell characters and few higher taxa have sufficient data to support monophyly. Resulting theoretical discussions have included methodological alternatives in phylogenetic coding of derived reduced character states.

(c) Monographic revisionary treatments of selected taxa at various levels, describing new species when necessary and advancing our collective knowledge of species and clade diversity. Live-population studies within this context have lead to discoveries of structures and phenomena not otherwise detectable. Previous work concentrated on the shelled opisthobranch gastropods (“bubble snails”) with their combinations of reduced shells and highly derived morphologies. Emphasis is currently placed on the large, ecologically and economically important, yet systematically neglected molluscan class, the Bivalvia.

EDUCATION:
B.S., 1976, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine.
Ph.D., 1994, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida.


PAST AND PRESENT PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
Adjunct Professor, Florida Institute of Technology, City University of New York, Queens College, and New York University.
Adjunct Scientist, Mote Marine Laboratory.
Managing Editor, American Malacological Bulletin, 1993-1999.
Co-curator, "Pearls" Exhibit, Giant Squid Exhibit, and renovation of AMNH Hall of Ocean Life.
Research Associate, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
Certified scuba diver.


SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Mikkelsen, P. M., and R. Bieler. In press. South Florida Seashells: Living Marine Bivalves of the Florida Keys and Adjacent Regions. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

Mikkelsen, P. M., R. Bieler, I. Kappner, and T. A. Rawlings. In press. Phylogeny of Veneroidea (Mollusca: Bivalvia) based on morphology and molecules. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Healy, J. M., P. Mikkelsen, and R. Bieler. In press. Sperm ultrastructure in Glauconome plankta and its relevance to the affinities of the Glauconomidae (Bivalvia: Heterodonta). Invertebrate Reproduction and Development.

Bieler, R., P. M. Mikkelsen, and R. S. Prezant. 2005. Byssus-attachment by infaunal clams: seagrass-nestling Venerupis in Esperance Bay, Western Australia (Bivalvia: Veneridae). Pages 177-198, in: F. E. Wells, D. I. Walker, and G. A. Kendrick (eds.), The Marine Flora and Fauna of Esperance, Western Australia. Western Australian Museum, Perth.

Mikkelsen, P. M., and R. Bieler. 2004. International Marine Bivalve Workshop 2002: introduction and summary. Malacologia, 46(2): 241-248.

Bieler, R., I. Kappner, and P. M. Mikkelsen. 2004. Periglypta listeri (Gray, 1838) (Bivalvia: Veneridae) in the western Atlantic: taxonomy, anatomy, life habits, and distribution. Malacologia, 46(2): 427-458.

Boyko, C. B., and P. M. Mikkelsen. 2002. Anatomy and biology of Mysella pedroana (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Galeommatoidea), and its commensal relationship with Blepharipoda occidentalis (Crustacea: Anomura: Albuneidae). Zoologischer Anzeiger, 241: 149-160.

Mikkelsen, P. M. 2002. Shelled opisthobranchs. Advances in Marine Biology, 42 [Molluscan Radiation ­ Lesser Known Branches, A. J. Southward, ed.]: 67-136.

Mikkelsen, P. M., and J. Cracraft. 2001. Marine biodiversity and the need for systematic inventory. Proceedings of the International Conference on Scientific Aspects of Coral Reef Assessment, Monitoring, and Restoration [National Coral Reef Institute], Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, April 14-16, 1999, James Darwin Thomas, ed. Bulletin of Marine Science, 69(2): 525-534.

Ingrao, D., P. M. Mikkelsen, & D. Hicks. 2001. Another introduced marine mollusk in the Gulf of Mexico: the Indo-Pacific green mussel, Perna viridis (Linnaeus, 1758), in Tampa Bay, Florida. Journal of Shellfish Research, 20(1): 13-19.

Landman, N. H., P. M. Mikkelsen, R. Bieler, and B. Bronson. 2001. Pearls: A Natural History. Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York, 232 pp.

de Maintenon, M. and P.M. Mikkelsen. 2001. Late reproductive system development in two cephalaspideans (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia): Bulla striata Bruguiere, 1792, and Actocina atrata Mikkelsen & Mikkelsen, 1984. The Veliger, 44(3):237-260.

Mikkelsen, P.M. and R. Bieler. 2001. Varicorbula (Bivalvia: Corbulidae) of the western Atlantic: taxonomy, anatomy, life habits, and distribution. The Veliger, 44(3):271-293.

Turner, R. L., M. C. Hartman, and P. M. Mikkelsen. 2001. Biology and Management of the Apple Snail: Final Report. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Tallahassee, Florida, Project NG88-105, submitted December 1993, 150 pp.

Mikkelsen, P.M. and R. Bieler. 2000. Marine bivalves of the Florida Keys: discovered biodiversity. In: The Evolutionary Biology of the Bivalvia [Proceedings of "Biology & Evolution of the Bivalvia," an international symposium organized by the Malacological Society of London, 14-17 September 1999, Cambridge, UK], E.M. Harper, J.D. Taylor, and J.A. Crame, eds. Geological Society, London, Special Publication 177: 367-387.

Tubbs, P.K., R. Gianuzzi-Savelli, R. Burn, R.C. Willan, W.B. Rudman, C.W. Bryce, H.G. Spencer, P. Bouchet, M. Schroedl, J. Marshall, T.M. Gosliner, P.M. Mikkelsen, and H. Waegele. 1999. Haminoea, Haminaea, or Haminea (Mollusca, Gastropoda): notes and comments on the spelling and authorship of the generic name, and a proposed Commission ruling (Case 2588; see BZN 44: 166-167; 47: 263-269). Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, 56(1): 49-56.

Bieler, R., A.D. Ball, and P.M. Mikkelsen. 1998. Marine Valvatoidea - comments on anatomy and systematics with description of a new species from Florida (Heterobranchia: Cornirostridae). Malacologia, 40(1): 305-320.

Bieler, R. and P.M. Mikkelsen. 1998. Ammonicera in Florida: notes on the smallest living gastropod in the United States and taxonomic comments on other species of Omalogyridae (Heterobranchia). The Nautilus 111(1): 1-12.

Turgeon, D. D., A. E. Bogan, E. V. Coan, W. K. Emerson, W. G. Lyons, P. M. Mikkelsen, J. F. Quinn, C. F. E. Roper, G. Rosenberg, B. Roth, A. Scheltema, M. J. Sweeney, F. Thompson, M. Vecchione, and J. D. Williams. 1998. Common and Scientific Names of Aquatic Invertebrates from the United States and Canada: Mollusks, 2nd ed. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland, 526 pp + CD-ROM.

Mikkelsen, P.M. 1998. Cylindrobulla and Ascobulla in the western Atlantic (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia, Sacoglossa): systematic review, description of a new species, and phylogenetic reanalysis. Zoologica Scripta, 27(1): 49-71.

Mikkelsen, P. M. and A. Bradford. 1997. Annotated catalog of type specimens in the malacololgical collection of the Delaware Museum of Natural History. Part II. Additions and corrections to Part I (prosobranchs, Heterostropha, and Opisthobranchia), plus Bivalvia, Scaphopoda, and Polyplacophora. Nemouria, no. 41, 76 pp.

Mikkelsen, P.M. 1996. The evolutionary relationships of Cephalaspidea s.l. (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia): a phylogenetic analysis. Malacologia, 37(2): 375-442.

Mikkelsen, P.M. 1995. Cephalaspid opisthobranchs of the Azores. Acoreana, suppl.: 193-215.

Mikkelsen, P.M., P.S. Mikkelsen, and D.J. Karlen. 1995. Molluscan biodiversity in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida. Bulletin of Marine Science, 57(1): 94-127.

Mikkelsen, P.M. 1993. Monophyly versus the Cephalaspidea (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia), with an analysis of traditional cephalaspid characters. Bolletino Malacologico, 29(5-8): 115-138.

Mikkelsen, P.M., R. Bieler, and R.E. Petit. 1993. A bibliography of Caribbean malacology 1841-1992. American Malacological Bulletin, 10(2): 267-290.

Bieler, R. and P.M. Mikkelsen. 1992. Preliminary phylogenetic analysis of the bivalve family Galeommatidae. American Malacological Bulletin, 9(2): 157-164.

Mikkelsen, P.M. and R. Bieler. 1992. Biology and comparative anatomy of three new species of commensal Galeommatidae, with a possible case of mating behavior in bivalves. Malacologia, 34(1-2): 1-24.

Bieler, R. and P.M. Mikkelsen, sci. eds. 1992-1998. Handbook of Systematic Malacology, vols. I-III. [English translation of Johannes Thiele's "Handbuch der systematischen Weichtierkunde," 1931-1935.] Amerind Publishing Company, India, with Smithsonian Institution Libraries and National Science Foundation.

Eckelbarger, K.J., R. Bieler, and P.M. Mikkelsen. 1990. Ultrastructure of sperm development and mature sperm morphology in three species of commensal bivalves (Mollusca: Galeommatoidea). Journal of Morphology, 205: 63-75.

Mikkelsen, P.M. and R. Bieler. 1989. Biology and comparative anatomy of Divariscintilla yoyo and D. troglodytes, two new species of Galeommatidae (Bivalvia) from stomatopod burrows in eastern Florida. Malacologia, 31(1): 175-195.

Bieler, R. and P.M. Mikkelsen. 1988. Anatomy and reproductive biology of two western Atlantic species of Vitrinellidae, with a case of protandrous hermaphroditism in the Rissoacea. The Nautilus, 102(1): 1-29.

Reed, J.K. and P.M. Mikkelsen. 1987. The molluscan community associated with the scleractinian coral, Oculina varicosa. Bulletin of Marine Science, 40(1): 99-131.

Mikkelsen, P.M. and P.S. Mikkelsen. 1987. Redescription of Acteocina recta and A. lepta, two species of cephalaspidean gastropods from the Western Atlantic. The Nautilus, 101(2): 51-58.

Mikkelsen, P.S. and P.M. Mikkelsen. 1984. Comparison of Acteocina canaliculata (Say, 1826), A. candei (d'Orbigny, 1841), and A. atrata spec. nov. (Gastropoda: Cephalaspidea). The Veliger, 27(2): 164-192.

 last updated 8/1/2006

Paula M. Mikkelsen, Ph.D., Curator of Malacology
Division of Invertebrate Zoology
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192
Tel. 212/769-5244 / Fax 212/769-5277

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