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Unraveling cryptic invasion of a freshwater snail in Chile based on molecular and morphological data

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Abstract

Cryptic species may cause biological invasions to be overlooked leading to underestimation of the potential impacts of invaders on the new ecosystems. Identification of freshwater snails is challenging because of the scarcity of discriminative morphological characters and the limited taxonomic knowledge of some taxa. Here, molecular and morphological analyses were performed to investigate the identity of viable populations of the genus Physa in aquatic ecosystems of different basins in northern and central Chile, including habitats where the native species Physa chilensis and Physa nodulosa have been traditionally recognized. Molecular analyses based on mitochondrial DNA sequences from the small subunit 16S rDNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 identified all specimens sequenced as belonging to the globally invasive species Physa acuta. Microscopic examination of the radula and morphological observations of the reproductive system were congruent with these findings. Highly divergent haplotypes found in El Salto suggest multiple introductions of different lineages of the invader in this locality. It is clear that for future management planning a more reliable assessment of the status of P. chilensis and P. nodulosa is required.

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Acknowledgements

I thank the staff of the Museo de Ciencias Naturales Profesor Pedro Ramírez Fuentes, Chillán, Chile. I am also grateful to Francis Miño and Nicolás Villalobos for field assistance and Cristian Suárez for technical support. This study was supported by the project DIUBB 153309 2/R and FONDECYT No. 11130697. I also thank the CONICYT-FONDEQUIP Program (No. EQM-140088) for acquisition of the Hitachi Scanning Electron Microscope and the anonymous referees for valuable comments on the original manuscript. The author is authorized to collect snails in Chile (Resolution No. 3285, Subsecretaría de Pesca y Acuicultura, Ministerio de Economía, Fomento y Turismo, República de Chile).

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  1. Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Avenida Andrés Bello N° 720, Casilla 447, Chillán, Chile

    Gonzalo A. Collado

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  1. Gonzalo A. Collado
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Correspondence to Gonzalo A. Collado.

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Communicated by Robert Cowie.

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Collado, G.A. Unraveling cryptic invasion of a freshwater snail in Chile based on molecular and morphological data. Biodivers Conserv 26, 567–578 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1255-y

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