Distribution and origin of introduced populations of the land snail Rumina decollata (Linnaeus 1758) in Argentina.

GUERRERO SPAGNUOLI, J; DOP, NS; PIZÁ, J

Amsterdad

Workshop; Simultaneously Hermaphroditic Organisms Workshop (SHOW); 2023

The land snail Rumina decollata is native to the Mediterranean region but has a worldwide distribution due to accidental or voluntary introductions in several countries of Asia, Africa and America. Its biological characteristics (facultative self-fertilization, omnivory, and xeroresistance)favoured the establishment and colonization in new environments. In Argentina, it was reported in1988 in Buenos Aires and had expanded its distribution since then. It is considered an invasive species and crop pest in several countries. Previous works postulated that introduced populationsbelong to the same phylogenetic group called “Clade A” and associated it with the dark-coloredmorph (being the native populations composed of both, dark and light morphs). The aim of ourstudy was to update the distribution of R. decollata in Argentina and to investigate the origins ofArgentine populations through a comparative molecular and morphological analysis with those ofthe native range of distribution. We performed a Citizen Science project; we posted a survey on social media to get information on distribution, habitat, food preferences, and damage caused. As a result, we got 700 responses revealing that this species inhabits urban and peri-urban areas from a broad area of Argentina (16 provinces from Misiones to Patagonia and from the pre-cordillera to theAtlantic coast). We also received living snails from 20 populations in 11 Argentine provinces for genetic analyses. We extracted total genomic DNA and amplified and sequence the mitochondrialCytochrome oxidase I gene. Subsequently, a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree and a haplotypenetwork were constructed. We determined that there is a predominant haplotype included withinthe Clade A, identical to the one found in populations from Spain and Portugal. Only one of thestudied populations presented differences in the haplotype sequence. Besides, the studiedindividuals presented variable coloration, so we could not detect a clear coloration pattern andrejected the hypothesis of the relationship of the invasive populations with the dark morph. Ourdata confirm that Rumina decollata has spread fast in Argentina during the last thirty years and it islikely that it colonizes natural environments in a near future. Studying life history traits and the environmental and biological factors influencing them is crucial to determine its dispersal capacity.