Abstract
We followed the invasion dynamics of the Oriental thiarid snail Thiara granifera on the Martinique island, French Antilles. This freshwater species was first discovered in 1991 in the Charpentier River, and its spread has since been analysed based on a yearly survey of the malacological fauna at more than 100 sites covering the whole island and representing 50 river systems and three pools. Four river systems were sampled at many sites. Thirteen river systems were colonized by 1997. Colonization within river systems occurred at a speed greater than 1km per year, probably resulting from both active and passive dispersal. Our results can, on the whole, be explained by a simple diffusion process. However, stratified diffusion has to be invoked in at least one river. Moreover, colonization was faster downstream than upstream, suggesting that current velocity plays a significant role in dispersal. Dispersal also occurred between river systems at a mean distance of almost 10km, though with a large variance, in accordance with the scattered colony model of stratified diffusion. The relative frequencies of T. granifera and Melanoides tuberculata, another recent invader of Martinique, were followed at three sites on the Lézarde River. The first species quickly outnumbered the second, though never wiped it out. The data therefore do not support any exclusion phenomena between these two parthenogenetic invaders. Our analysis does not indicate any obvious influence of the rise of T. granifera on the local freshwater fauna.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott, T.T. (1952) A study of an intermediate snail host (Thiara granifera) of the oriental lung fluke (Paragonimus). Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 102(3292), 71–116.
Boag, D.A. (1986) Dispersal in pond snails: potential role of waterfowl. Can. J. Zool. 64, 904–9.
Brown, D.S. (1994) Freshwater snails of Africa and their medical importance, 2nd edn. London: Taylor & Francis, 608 pp.
Butlers, J.M., Ferguson, F.F., Palmer, J.R. and Jobin, W.R. (1980) Displacement of a colony of Biomphalaria glabrata by an invading population of Tarebia granifera in a small stream in Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 16, 73–9.
Camacho, F and Nelson, S. (1997) Size-specific predation by the Tahitian prawn Macrobrachium lar on the freshwater snail Thiara granifera. Pacific Science Inter-Congress, Suva, 11.
Chaniotis, B.N., Butlers, J.M., Ferguson, F.F. and Jobins, W.R. (1980) Bionomics of Tarebia granifera (Gastropoda: Thiaridae) in Puerto Rico, an asiatic vector of Paragonimus westermani. Carib. J. Sci. 1R6, 81–90.
Chrosciechowski, P. (1973) Un caracol en busca de nueva residencia. El Lago 39, 813–14.
Civeyrel, L. and Simberloff, D. (1996) A tale of two snails: is the cure worse than the disease? Biodivers. Conserv. 5, 1231–52.
Clarke, A.H. (1987) Apparent competitive exclusion of Biomphalaria havanensis and Pachychilus largillierti by Melanoides tuberculata in a large Honduran lake. First International Congress on Medical and Applied Malacology, Monterrey, International Society for Medical and Applied Radiology Publishers, p. 24.
Doby, J.M., Chabaud, A., Mandahl-Barth, G., Rault, B. and Chevallier, H. (1969) Extension en Corse du mollusque gastropode Potamopyrgus jenkinsi (Smith, 1889) (Hydrobiidae). Bulletin du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle 37, 833–43.
Drake, J.A., Mooney, H.A., Di Castri, F., Groves, R.H., Kruger, F.J., Rejmánek, M. and Williamson, M. (1989) Biological Invasions. A global perspective. SCOPE 37. New York: J. Wiley & Sons, 525 pp.
Ferguson, F.F. (1977) The role of biological agents in the control of schistosome-bearing snails. US Department of Health Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, Centre for Disease Control, Bureau of Laboratories, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, 107 pp.
Gomez, J.D., Vargas, M. and Malek, E.A. (1986) Freshwater mollusks of the Dominican Republic. Nautilus 100(4), 130–4.
Guyard, A. and Pointier, J.P. (1979) Faune malacologique dulçaquicole et vecteurs de la schistosomose intestinale en Martinique (Antilles françaises). Annales de Parasitologie 54(2), 193–205.
Guyard, A., Pointier, J.P., Theron, A. and Dumoutier-Gilles, A. (1983) La bilharziose intestinale en Martinique en 1983. CRDP des Antilles et de la Guyane, 28 pp.
Harry, H.W. and Aldrich, D.V. (1958) The ecology of Australorbis glabratus in puerto Rico. Bull. World Health Organization 18, 829–32.
Jabbour-Zahab, R., Pointier, J.P., Jourdane, J., Jarne, P., Oviedo, J.A., Bargues, M.D., Mas-Coma, S., Angles, R., Perera, G., Balzan, C., Khallayoune, K. and Renaud, F. (1997) Phylogeography and genetic divergence of some lymnaeid snails, intermediate hosts of human and animal fasioliasis with special reference to lymnaeids from the Bolivian Altiplano. Acta Tropica 64, 191–203.
Jarne, P. and Städler, T. (1995) Population genetic structure and mating system evolution in freshwater pulmonates. Experientia 51, 482–97.
Jaume, M.L. (1972) Nuevo género y especie de molusco fluvial para la fauna malacolögica cubana (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia: Thiaridae). Circulares del Museo y Bibliotheca de Zoología de la Habana 1523–5.
Madsen, H. and Frandsen, F. (1989) The spread of freshwater snails including those of medical and veterinary importance. Acta Tropica 46, 139–46.
McMullen, D.B. (1973) Biological and environmental control of snails. In Epidemiology and control of schistosomiasis, pp 533–91. Basel: Karger and Baltimore: University Park Press.
Michelson, E.H. (1992) Thiara granifera: a victim of authoritarianism. Malacol. Rev. 25, 67–71.
Murray, H.D. (1964) Tarebia granifera and Melanoides tuberculata in Texas. American Malacological Union, Incompany, 15–16.
Murray, H.D. (1971) The introduction and spread of thiarids in the United States. The Biologist 53, 133–5.
Murray, H.D. and Wopschall, L.J. (1965) Ecology of Melanoides tuberculata (Müller) and Tarebia granifera (Lamarck) in South Texas. American Malacological Union, Incompany, 25–6.
Pointier, J.P. (1989) Conchological studies of Thiara (Melanoides) tuberculata (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Thiaridae) in the French West Indies. Walkerana 3(10), 203–9.
Pointier, J.P. (1996) An Australian planorbid freshwater snail recently introduced to the island of Martinique: Amerianna carinata (H. Adams, 1861). Haliotis 25, 25–31.
Pointier, J.P. and Guyard, A. (1992) Biological control of the snail intermediate hosts of Schistosoma mansoni in Martinique, French West Indies. Trop. Med. Parasitol. 43, 98–101.
Pointier, J.P., Guyard A. and Mosser, A. (1989) Biological control of Biomphalaria glabrata and B. straminea by the competitor snail Thiara tuberculata in a transmission site of schistosomias in Martinique, French West Indies. Ann. Trop. Med. Parasitol. 83(3), 263–9.
Pointier, J.P., Delay, B., Toffart, J.L., Lefevre, M. and Romero-Alvarez, R. (1992) Life history traits of three morphs of Melanoides tuberculata (Gastropoda: Thiaridae), an invading snail in the French West Indies. J. Mollusc. Stud. 58, 415–23.
Pointier, J.P., Thaler, L., Pernot, A.F. and Delay, B. (1993) Invasion of the Martinique island by the parthenogenetic snail Melanoides tuberculata and the succession of morphs. Acta Oecologica 14(1), 33–42.
Pointier, J.P., Incani, R.N., Balzan, C., Chrosciechowski, P. and Prypchan, S. (1994) Invasion of the rivers of the littoral central region of Venezuela by Thiara granifera and Melanoides tuberculata (Mollusca: Prosobranchia: Thiaridae) and the absence of Biomphalaria glabrata, snail host of Schistosoma mansoni. Nautilus 107(4), 124–8.
Prentice, M.A., (1983) Displacement of Biomphalaria glabrata by the snail Thiara granifera in field habitats in St Lucia, West Indies. Ann. Trop. Med. Parasitol. 77, 51–9.
Roessler, M.A. Beardsley, G.L. and Tabb, D.C. (1977) New records of the introduced snail, Melanoides tuberculata (Mollusca: Thiaridae) in South Florida. Florida Sci. 40(1), 87–94.
Samadi, S., Balzan, C., Delay, B. and Pointier, J.P. (1997) Local distribution and abundance of thiarid snails in recently colonized rivers from the Caribbean area. Malacol. Rev. 30(45–52).
Shigesada, N. and Kawasaki, K. (1997) Biological invasions: theory and practice. Oxford: Oxford University press, 205 pp.
Starmühlner, F. (1984) Occurrence, longitudinal distribution and geographical range of the fresh and brackish water molluscs of the Lesser Antillean islands (Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinica). Soosiana 12, 83–102.
Tillier, S. (1992) Introduced land snails in New Caledonia: A limited impact in the past, a potential disaster for the future. Pac. Sci. 46, 396–7.
Tillier, S. and Clarke, B.C. (1983) Lutte Biologique et destruction du patrimoine génétique: le cas des mollusques gastéropodes pulmonés dans les territoires français du Pacifique. Génétique Sélection et Evolution 15, 559–66.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pointier, J.P., Samadi, S., Jarne, P. et al. Introduction and spread of Thiara granifera (Lamarck, 1822) in Martinique, French West Indies. Biodiversity and Conservation 7, 1277–1290 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008887531605
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008887531605