Life cycle of the South American apple snail Asolene platae (Caenogastropoda: Ampullariidae) under laboratory conditions

TIECHER M.J; BURELA S; MARTIN P.R.

JOURNAL OF MOLLUSCAN STUDIES

OXFORD UNIV PRESS

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2016

0260-1230

Ampullariids or apple snails have been intensively studied during the last decades due to the fast expansion around the world and the severe impacts of two species of Pomacea, a genus with a peculiar reproductive mode (aerial egg masses). Our aims were to investigate the life cycle of Asolene platae, an apple snail with a different reproductive mode (aquatic egg masses) from the Río de la Plata basin, following three cohorts from hatching to death under laboratory conditions. The growth of A. platae was continuous during the four-year lifespan and the snails reached 80% of their asymptotic size (25 mm) at an age of one year. Males mature at a smaller size (21.16 vs. 24.53 mm) and much earlier (55.02 vs. 84.88 weeks) than females. The survivorship curves showed 63% mortality during the first 2-8 weeks, an almost null mortality for two years and finally a steady decline in the number of survivors with at least 7% of the snails still alive after three years. The lifespan fecundity of females was 20.61 egg masses and 1429.9 eggs. The tertiary sex ratio of the three cohorts was balanced but varied from 0.25 to 0.76 among egg masses. Our laboratory data indicate that in temperate environments A. platae males would mature in their second summer and females during their second or third summer, and that both reproduce again during the three following summers. Several attributes of the life cycle of A. platae (slow growth, high posthatching mortality, late maturation and relatively low fecundity) indicate lower invasive potential and population resilience than that of invasive apple snails.