Abstract
An account is given of all invasive alien freshwater snail species samples found in the Kruger National Park currently on record in the National Freshwater Snail Collection(NFSC) database. This report mainly focuses on samples collected during surveys of selected water bodies in the Kruger National Park (KNP) during 1964, 1995, 2001 and 2006. The progress made by four alien invasive freshwater snail species, Lymnaea columella, Physa acuta, Aplexa marmorata and Tarebia granifera, in colonising water bodies since first being recorded in the KNP is addressed. The results clearly show that all four species are in the process of becoming more widespread than they were when first recorded. However, T. granifera is the only one of these species of which exceptionally dense populations were encountered in several water bodies. All indications are that this species could already have had a negative impact on the species diversity of molluscs in these water bodies, and it is recommended that the situation be closely monitored.
Highlights
An account is given of all invasive alien freshwater snail species samples found in the Kruger National Park currently on record in the National Freshwater Snail Collection (NFSC) database
In his revision of the available knowledge on the biology of invasive gastropods and the impact they may have on systems they have colonised in South Africa, Appleton (2003) lists four species as being invasive or as becoming so
More than 25 different mollusc species from the Kruger National Park (KNP) are on record in the NFSC database, no other alien mollusc species are on record
Summary
During our recent survey (Wolmarans & De Kock 2006) we concentrated mainly on water bodies that were screened for molluscs in 1995 (De Kock & Wolmarans 1998) and 2001 (De Kock et al 2002). Molluscs were collected by means of aluminium scoops, preserved in alcohol, identified by the first author and subsequently incorporated into the NFSC. Sites where the four alien invasive snail species were recovered, records of previous collections extracted from the database of the NFSC, as well as sites positive for other mollusc species but negative for the four alien species, were plotted on a map.
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