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Vol. 53, 2014
Out of New Zealand: molecular identification of the highly
invasive freshwater mollusk Potamopyrgus
antipodarum (Gray, 1843)
in South America
Gonzalo
A Collado1,2
1Departamento
de Ciencias Básicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Bío-Bío,
Avda. Andrés Bello s/n, Casilla 447, Chillán, Chile
2Fundación Chile Natura, Santiago, Chile
Abstract
Background: The New Zealand mud
snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Gray, 1843) is among
the most widespread non-indigenous mollusk in the world. Based on a
comprehensive phylogenetic analysis, the invasion of this species to
central Chile, which is also the first record of this species from
South America, is reported.
Results: Molecular analysis identified four
populations of P. antipodarum
in central Chile, Parque O'Higgins and Estero La Dehesa in Santiago
city, and Estero Consuelo and the Chalinga River in Salamanca, a town
located in a different basin. No sequence divergence was found among
populations in the cytochrome c
oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Morphological and reproductive evidence
is in agreement with these findings.
Conclusions: This is the first
record of P. antipodarum in
the Neotropical region. All populations contained only females with
embryos or juvenile snails in their brood pouches suggesting that they
are viable and well established. It is important to prevent the spread
of P. antipodarum to other localities in Chile and other South American
countries.
Key words: Biological invasions;
Caenogastropoda; Chile; COI gene; Tateidae.
*Correspondence: E-mail: gcollado@ubiobio.cl
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