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Ecology of freshwater snails in south-western Nigeria. I: Distribution and habitat preferences

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Abstract

Dry and rainy season investigations of diverse freshwater habitats in south-western Nigeria revealed fourteen species of snail comprised of nine pulmonates: Biomphalaria pfeifferi Krauss, Bulinus globosus Morelet, Bulinus rohlfsi Clessin, Lymnaea natalensis Krauss, Physa ( ≈ Aplexa) waterloti Germain, Bulinus forskali Ehrenberg, Gyraulus costulatus Krauss, Ferrissia sp, Segmentorbis sp. and five prosobranchs namely, Lanistes libycus Morelet, Lanistes ovum Peters, Pila wernei Philippi, Potadoma moerchi Reeve and Melanoides tuberculata Müller.

The influence of diverse chemical and physical properties of water on their occurrence as well as interspecific and snail-plant relationships are discussed and maps showing the distribution of the species encountered are presented. Among the intermediate hosts of Schistosoma, B. globosus was widely distributed and common, B. pfeieri was also widely distributed but infrequent and B. rohlfsi was rare.

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  1. G. T. Ndifon

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, Bayero, University, Kano, Nigeria

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    G. T. Ndifon & F. M. A. Ukoli

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Ndifon, G.T., Ukoli, F.M.A. Ecology of freshwater snails in south-western Nigeria. I: Distribution and habitat preferences. Hydrobiologia 171, 231–253 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00008146

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