Abstract
Nineteen species of abundant gastropods were collected at Robben Island, including introduced dune snails and European brown garden snails. They were identified using morphology and DNA barcoding. It was expected that the species recorded would be similar to those from the Cape peninsula, South Africa, but we were surprised to find some exceptions: the very abundant invasive mussel species in South Africa, the South American bisexual mussel (Semimytilus algosus), and the beaded topshells (Oxystele impervia) were not found on Robben Island. Possible explanations are presented for these differences.
Highlights
Robben Island is most renowned for its maximum security prison, which housed President Nelson Mandela of SA
The aim of this study is to report results from a survey of the biodiversity, confirmed by voucher identifications and DNA barcoding of the common molluscs of Robben Island as part of the international Barcoding of Life Data Systems (BOLD; http:// www.barcodinglife.org) project
Standard Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (CCDB) protocols for polymerase chain reactions (PCR) reactions were followed as described by Hajibabaei et al (2005)
Summary
Robben Island is most renowned for its maximum security prison, which housed President Nelson Mandela of SA. Robben Island is 7 km from Bloubergstrand (SA), the length of Robben Island is 5.4 km, the width is 2.5 km, and has an area of 574 hectares (approximately 5.74 km2) with the highest point at 30 m above sea level and an annual rain fall of between 300 mm and 400 mm. It is less known for being the island to which lepers were banned to become miserable island outcasts.
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