Abstract
The sewage snail Physa acuta, native to North America, is an effective invasive species around the world. In Chile, it was first reported in 2014 in the north central area of the country. So far, the species has not been recorded in southern Chile. Sampling performed in 2015 in three localities from Llanquihue Lake, Chilean Patagonia, only provided native freshwater snails. However, new collections performed in February 2018 in the same three sites were successful for physid specimens suggesting a biological invasion entailing a large southward range expansion of these snails. Here we performed morphological, microstructural and phylogenetic analyses to investigate whether the new samples belong to Physa acuta. The shell morphology, male copulatory complex and radula microstructure of the new material agree with those of the sewage snail. The molecular phylogenetic analyses using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene confirmed morphological identification. We suggest to take prompt measures to prevent the expansion of Physa acuta in Llanquihue Lake or nearby aquatic ecosystems.
Highlights
The planet is currently undergoing two processes of global environmental variation, climate change and the globalization of trade, which have impacted the biosphere generating favorable opportunities for an increase in bioinvasions (Lockwood et al 2007)
In South America, Physa acuta was identified for the first time by Paraense & Pointier (2003) who reported the synonymy of Physa cubensis Pfeiffer, 1839 with Physa acuta but it is apparent that the species was present from before in the subcontinent (Miquel 1985, Paraense 1987, Collado 2017, Darrigran et al 2020)
Sampling performed in Llanquihue Lake allowed to collect eight physid specimens in Llanquihue City (41°15’15.00 S; 73°00’06.50’’ W), forty three in Puerto Chico (41°19’37.06” S; 72°57’26.64” W) and one in Maullín River (41°15’41.07” S; 73°00’09.14” W), which were identified as Physa acuta (Fig. 2 a-r)
Summary
The planet is currently undergoing two processes of global environmental variation, climate change and the globalization of trade, which have impacted the biosphere generating favorable opportunities for an increase in bioinvasions (Lockwood et al 2007). The introduction of invasive species can generate a series of effects in native ecosystems such as economic loss, damage to human health, landscape alterations and threats to biodiversity (Gordon 1998, Perrings 2001, Bax et al 2003, Juliano & Lounibos 2005, Lovell et al 2006). One of them is the freshwater snail Physa acuta Draparnaud, 1805, native to North America (Dillon et al 2002, 2005, Lydeard et al 2016), which has profusely invaded all continents, except Antarctic (e.g. Madsen & Frandsen 1989, Ali 1993, Brackenbury & Appleton 1993, Dillon et al 2002, Zukowski & Walker 2009, Núñez 2010, Vinarski 2017). In South America, Physa acuta was identified for the first time by Paraense & Pointier (2003) who reported the synonymy of Physa cubensis Pfeiffer, 1839 with Physa acuta but it is apparent that the species was present from before in the subcontinent (Miquel 1985, Paraense 1987, Collado 2017, Darrigran et al 2020)
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