Biodiversidad de moluscos marinos en México

Abstract

Assessing the patterns of diversity of the phylum Mollusca along the extensive Mexico’s littoral zones represent a challenging task. However, one can argue that the biodiversity of a country can properly be expressed using descriptive variables such as species richness. With this in mind, the present study attempts to estimate the total number of species composing the marine Mexican mollusk fauna. For this purpose, an extensive literature search was conducted, consulting both national and international sources. This effort revealed the existence of a total of 4 643 marine mollusk species distributed as follows: 2 576 in the Pacific and 2 067 in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. It is herein included a brief morphological description, nutritional and habitat characteristics, as well as endemic components. The historical records of new species of marine mollusk described in Mexico, mostly made by foreign scientist, dating back 250 years were reviewed. Undoubtedly, the marine mollusk fauna diversity of Mexico would be significantly enriched with the explorations of the deep sea, hidrothermal vents, islands, and with the increasing sampling effort in coastal lagoons and coral reef habitats.