R & C | MALACOLOGY

Ángel Valdés: Assistant Curator
e-mail: avaldes@nhm.org
BS Biology: Universidad de Oviedo, Spain, 1993
PhD Zoology: Universidad de Oviedo, Spain, 1996

Dr. Valdés became curator of mollusks in 2001 after a three-year postdoc at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. His research interest is the phylogenetic systematics and biogeography of opisthobranch mollusks. He has published more than 50 papers on this subject, describing more than 70 new taxa and unraveling the phylogentic relationships of several opisthobranch clades. He is currently working on the systematics of dorid nudibranchs, a highly diverse group of opisthobranchs. His work attempts to provide light on the classification and evolution of the group using both molecular and morphological characters, but also to understand the biogeographic implications of the phylogenetic hypotheses produced.

Selected Publications

Valdés, A. & Héros, V. 1998. The types of opisthobranchs molluscs in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Zoosystema, 20: 695-742.

Valdés, A. & Gosliner, T. M. 1999. Reassessment of the systematic status of Miamira Bergh, 1875 and Orodoris Bergh, 1875 (Nudibranchia, Chromodorididae) in light of phylogenetic analysis. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 65: 33-45.

Valdés, A. & Gosliner, T. M. 1999. Phylogeny of the radula-less dorids (Mollusca, Nudibranchia), with the description of a new genus and a new family. Zoologica Scripta, 28: 315-360.

Valdés, A. & Lozouet, P. 2000. Opisthobranch molluscs from the tertiary of the Aquitaine basin (South-Western France), with descriptions of seven new species and a new genus. Palaeontology, 43: 457-479.

Valdés, A. 2001. On the publication date, authorship and type species of Umbraculum and Tylodina (Opisthobranchia, Notaspidea). The Nautilus, 115: 29-34.

Valdés, A. 2001. Depth-related adaptations, speciation processes and evolution of color in the genus Phyllidiopsis (Mollusca, Nudibranchia). Marine Biology, 139: 485-496.

Valdés, A. & Gosliner, T. M. 2001. Systematics and phylogeny of the caryophyllidia-bearing dorids (Mollusca, Nudibranchia), with the description of a new genus and four new species from Indo-Pacific deep waters. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 133: 103-198.

Johnson, R. & Valdés, A. 2001. The Hypselodoris infucata colour group (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Chromodorididae), with remarks on the genus Brachychlanis Ehrenberg, 1831. Journal of Natural History, 35: 1371-1398.

Valdés, A. 2001. Deep-sea dorid nudibranchs (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) from the tropical West Pacific, with descriptions of two new genera and nineteen new species. Malacologia, 43: 237-311.

Valdés, A. 2001. Phyllidiid nudibranchs (Mollusca) from the deep south-western Pacific Ocean. In: Bouchet, P., Marshall, B. A. (eds) Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos, vol. 22. Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 185: 331-369.