Abstract
The red-rimmed melania Melanoides tuberculata (O. F. Müller) has been used in the aquarist trade and biocontrol programs, leading to its emergence outside its native range. Two populations of the red-rimmed melania occur in Slovakia. We investigated the morphometric features of mentioned populations and made a comparison. These two populations differ significantly in investigated features. Mean shell length of red-rimmed melania individuals from the Opatovce nad Nitrou was 14.7 mm, while the mean shell length of specimens from Piešťany was 24.4 mm (p < 10−6). Mean shell width, aperture length, and aperture width for specimens from the Opatovce nad Nitrou was 4.4 mm, 4.1 mm, and 2.3 mm, respectively. Mean shell width, aperture length, and aperture width of Piešťany specimens was 7.5 mm (p < 10−6), 7.1 mm (p < 10−6), and 3.8 mm (p < 10−6), respectively. The maximum shell length of specimens from the Opatovce nad Nitrou site was 22–23 mm, while shell length of specimens from Piešťany reached 32–33 mm. Regression analysis of the shell length and shell width, aperture length and aperture width, indicate equivalent relationship of the shell patterns for the two populations. Population structure analysis provided first inside of their population status, identifying a proliferating population at the Opatovce nad Nitrou site, while only adult individuals were observed at the site in Piešťany. The red-rimmed malania is a good candidate for possible biological invasions in thermal waters of temperate zone.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic – projects CENAKVA (No. CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0024), CENAKVA II (No. LO1205 under the NPU I program) and the Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia (012/2016/Z). We would also like to appreciate the reviewer’s comments which considerably improved our manuscript. Special thank belongs to the editor of the zoological section of the Biologia journal having much patients with preparation of this article. Last but not least, we would like to thank Dr. Tomáš Čejka for his encouragements for this research, his help and suggestions regarding this manuscript, and for exact species identification.
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Lipták, B., Liptáková, P., Veselý, L. et al. Length frequency and morphometric analysis of the non-indigenous red-rimmed melania (Melanoides tuberculata) populations in Slovakia. Biologia 73, 505–511 (2018). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-018-0060-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-018-0060-3