Scorched mussels (Brachidontes spp., Bivalvia: Mytilidae) from the tropical and warm-temperate southwestern Atlantic: the role of the Amazon River in their speciation

Antitropicality is a distribution pattern where closely related taxa are separated by an intertropical latitudinal gap. Two potential examples include Brachidontes darwinianus (south eastern Brazil to Uruguay), considered by some authors as a synonym of B. exustus (Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean), and B. solisianus, distributed along the Brazilian coast with dubious records north of the intertropical zone. Using two nuclear (18S and 28S rDNA) and one mitochondrial gene (mtDNA COI), we aimed to elucidate the phylogeographic and phylogenetic relationships among the scorched mussels present in the warm-temperate region of the southwest Atlantic. We evaluated a divergence process mediated by the tropical zone over alternative phylogeographic hypotheses. Brachidontes solisianus was closely related to B. exustus I, a species with which it exhibits an antitropical distribution. Their divergence time was approximately 2.6 Ma, consistent with the intensification of Amazon River flow. Brachidontes darwinianus, an estuarine species is shown here not to be related to this B. exustus complex. We suspect ancestral forms may have dispersed from the Caribbean to the Atlantic coast via the Trans-Amazonian seaway (Miocene). The third species, B rodriguezii is presumed to have a long history in the region with related fossil forms going back to the Miocene. Although scorched mussels are very similar in appearance, their evolutionary histories are very different, involving major historical contingencies as the formation of the Amazon River, the Panama Isthmus, and the last marine transgressio

Experimental determination of heat transfer across the metal/mold gap in a direct chill (DC) casting mold—part I: Effect of gap size and mold gas type

An experimental apparatus to determine the heat-transfer coefficient in the gap formed between the cast metal and the mold wall of a vertical direct chill (DC) casting mold is described. The apparatus simulates the conditions existing within the confines of the DC casting mold and measures the heat flux within the gap. Measurements were made under steady-state conditions, simulating the steady-state regime of the DC casting process. A range of casting parameters that may affect the heat transfer was tested using this apparatus. In the current article, the operation of the apparatus is described along with the results for the effect of gas type within the mold, and the size of the metal-mold gap formed during casting. The results show that the gas type and the gap size significantly affect the heat transfer within a DC casting mold. The measured heat fluxes for all the conditions tested were expressed as a linear correlation between the heat-transfer coefficient and the metal-mold gap size, and the fluxes can be used to estimate the heat transfer between the metal and the mold at any gap size. These results are compared to values reported in the literature and recommendations are made for the future reporting of the metal/mold heat-transfer coefficient for DC casting. The results for the effect of the other parameters tested are described in Part II of the article