INSIGHTS INTO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF AMPULLARIIDS FROM THE LOWER RÍO DE LA PLATA BASIN, ARGENTINA

MARTÍN, P. R.; BURELA S.; TIECHER M. J.

Tentacle

Tentacle

Año: 2013 p. 11 - 13

0958-5079

Apple snails (Ampullariidae) are renowned globally as successful invaders, as voracious pests of aquatic crops and as promoters of ecosystem changes in natural wetlands. However, a recent review highlighted that only 14 species of apple snails have been translocated beyond their native areas and less than half of them have caused ecological or economical impacts (Horgan et al., 2012). Most of their reputation is attributable to a few New World species of the genus Pomacea (in particular P. canaliculata) and to the ramshorn apple snail, Marisa cornuarietis. This prompted the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group to include Pomacea canaliculata in the list of 100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species (Lowe et al., 2000), although at least one other species of the genus, Pomacea maculata (see Hayes et al., 2012), could probably be included in the list.