Gastropod species found in birds' nests from Argentina

MIQUEL, S.E.; TURIENZO, PAOLA; DI IORIO, OSVALDO R.

Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales

Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales

Año: 2015 vol. 17 p. 87 - 96

1514-5158

Bird's nests are specialized habitats that are inhabited by a diverse suite ofinvertebrates, such as insects, spiders, pseudoscorpions, and ticks. This study presents a list ofgastropods found in birds? nests from Argentina for the first time. A total of 138 specimens ofgastropods, belonging to 11 species, 10 genera and 8 families of snails were present in thenests of 44 birds from 6 families in 6 provinces from Argentina. Fifty eight specimens of thesnail Pupisoma latens Hylton Scott (1960) of different sizes were found alive in a nest;representing a new habitat for this species, which has been previously described from theaerial parts of trees. The remaining species were represented by dead specimens (fragments orempty shells), which can be tentatively attributed to bird diets. Among these, the mostabundant species were Bulimulus bonariensis bonariensis (Rafinesque, 1833) and Succinea meridionalis Orbigny, 1846, both as pre-adults. The nests of the birds Anumbius annumbi and Furnarius rufus from the province of Buenos Aires had the highest number of specimens.Freshwater snails (Heleobia parchappii, Biomphalaria sp., and Drepanotrema sp.) comprised13% of the snail species found.