Location of Dominica in the CaribbeanAn outline map of Dominica
The non-marine molluscs of Dominica are species of land and freshwatermolluscs, i.e. land snails, land slugs and one small freshwater clam that are part of the wildlife of Dominica, an island in the Lesser Antilles. In malacology, the non-marine molluscs of an area are traditionally listed separately from the marine molluscs (those molluscs that live in full-salinity saltwater).
Dominica is a Caribbean island, part of the Windward Island chain of the Lesser Antilles. Fifty-five species of non-marine molluscs have been found in the wild in Dominica, including sixteen endemic species of land snails, species which occur nowhere else on Earth.
Dominica is a mountainous, 750 square kilometres (290sqmi), volcanic, tropical island. It is undeveloped compared with most other Caribbean islands, and it is known for its wildlife and unspoiled natural landscapes. The rugged terrain includes a great deal of tropical rainforest, numerous rivers, and several officially protected areas, including Morne Trois Pitons National Park and Cabrits National Park. The rich natural landscapes of Dominica provide suitable habitat for a wide range of different species of wildlife, including many rarities, and a relatively large number of species of non-marine molluscs, both native and introduced.
The first records of land gastropods from Dominica were published by the English naturalist Robert John Lechmere Guppy in 1868.[4] During his visit (a vacation which he turned into an active malacological field trip)[3] Guppy collected a total of 20 species[4] from Dominica. Out of these twenty, he described 9 as new species.[3][4]
Subsequently, additional records were added by Thomas B. Bland (1869),[5] A. D. Brown (1881),[6]George French Angas (1884), Edgar Albert Smith (1888, 1888)[7][8] and Henry Augustus Pilsbry (1892).[9] Four surveys of the terrestrial malacofauna were carried out in the 2000s: 2001 (Ramnath), 2003, 2005 (Robinson, Fields & Zimmerman) and 2008 (Hovestadt). These studies were summarized in 2009.[3]
The list of Dominican land gastropods contains 43[2][3] species, making it one of the richest known faunas of land snails and slugs in the Lesser Antilles.[3]
There are striking faunal relationships with the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.[3] Furthermore, 9 of the species (21%) are widespread, and 13 species are considered to have been introduced into Dominica.[3]
The landsnail fauna can be analyzed according to the elevational range of the species. There is a distinction between the windward (east) and leeward (west) side of the island, according to the parishes in which the localities are situated.[3] While most species exhibit a rather wide elevational range, several are restricted in this respect.[3] Very few species only occur at lower elevations: Diplopoma, Allopeas, Beckianum and Huttonella species.[3] These taxa are largely introduced species. Some species are restricted to higher localities: Lucidella sp., veronicellids (except the introduced Veronicella cubensis and Veronicella sloanei), Naesiotus stenogyroides, Amphibulima pardalina and Laevaricella perlucens.[3] These do not occur, however, on the upper slopes of the higher peaks, but seem to be restricted to the hygrophytic vegetation zone, i.e. the cloud forest.[3]
Many localities have a rather low species richness.[3] For example, in surveys from 2001–2008, at six localities no snails were encountered; at the remaining 64, species richness ranged from 1 to 17 (mean 4.54).[3] Taking into account the rareness of species, the southeast of the island scores well when the total diversity is considered.[3]
Biomphalaria glabrata (Say, 1818) – This species was reported from Dominica in 1980,[11] but it seems that it was replaced by other Biomphalaria species, or it was eradicated (it was not found by Noblet & Damian (1991) nor by Reeves et al. (2008)).[1]
Melanoides tuberculata (Müller, 1774) – Introduced.[2] Its initial introduction to Dominica was probably around 1975.[1] Previous reports of Tarebia granifera from Freshwater Lake in Dominica were probably large Melanoides tuberculata.[1] (However, it may be possible to find Tarebia granifera on Dominica; this species does occur on the nearby island of Martinique.)
Lucidella sp. – Endemic.[3] First reported in 2009.[3] This species lives in moist leaf litter or on ferns in undisturbed forested areas of the island.[3] Although Robert John Lechmere Guppy (1868)[4] reported the Lesser Antillean Lucidella plicatula from Dominica, no evidence was found of the occurrence of that species.[3] The endemic Dominican Lucidella is considerably larger and differs in sculptural details. Like many helicinid species, there are red and yellow colour morphs. Further research is required to establish the taxonomic position of these specimens.[3]
Diplopoma sp. – Endemic.[3] A snail in the family Pomatiidae was first reported from Dominica in 2009.[3] Most members of this family – and certainly of this genus – typically are obligate calciphiles, occurring only when the substrate contains high levels of environmental calcium carbonate.[3] Therefore, the occurrence of this species on the island was unexpected.[3] It closely resembles Diplopoma crenulatum crenulatum (Potiez & Michaud, 1835), which occurs in Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante and La Désirade.[3] This species may have been introduced from one of those islands when the British and French struggled for possession of Dominica, at the end of the 18th century.[3] The taxon appears to be restricted to the battlements of Fort Shirley at Cabrits Point.[3] The Dominican specimens differ from those of Guadeloupe in having weaker sutural crenulation and in some other minor details.[3] Further research is required in order to establish the taxonomic position of these specimens.[3]
Veronicella aff. floridana (Leidy, 1868) – Introduced.[3] Superficially similar to Veronicella cubensis, it can be distinguished principally by differences in the male genitalia.[3]
Veronicella sp. – Endemic.[3] First reported in 2009.[3] A single specimen was found, in which the genitalia do not match those of any known species.[3]Molecular analysis shows that it is related to Veronicella portoricensis (Semper, 1886) from the highland rainforests of Puerto Rico.[3] It will be described in a forthcoming paper (Robinson, Barr & Fields, in preparation).[3]
Succinea sp. – Endemic.[3] First reported in 2009.[3] Because West Indian succineid taxonomy is in complete disarray, Robinson et al. (2009)[3] simply placed this material in the genus Succinea, pending a comprehensive study of this poorly understood group.[3] More than one Succinea species appears to be present in Dominica.[3]
Omalonyx matheroni (Potiez & Michaud, 1838) – Introduced.[3] There are slight differences in the mantle pattern (often a diagnostic feature in some succineids) compared to typical Omalonyx matheroni.[3] Further work is needed to establish the taxonomic position of this material from Dominica.[3]
Omalonyx unguis (d’Orbigny, 1837) – This species was reported by the Austrian-French Hydrobiological Mission in 1979,[2] but see also comments to Omalonyx matheroni above.
Bulimulus diaphanus fraterculus (Potiez & Michaud, 1835) – First reported in 2009.[3] It is possible that it was introduced from one of the more northerly islands, where it was listed by Breure (1974).[3][13]
Zophos cf. baudoni (Petit, 1853) – Guppy (1868)[4] expressed some doubts whether the Dominican specimens belonged to this species, which was described by Petit de la Saussaye from Guadeloupe. Ramnath & Fields (2002)[14] were of the same opinion, considering it possibly new to science.[3]
Deroceras laeve (Müller, 1774) – Introduced.[3] First reported in 2009.[3] Although generally associated with cooler climates, it survives on the island at higher altitudes and is locally quite common.[3]
The following species have been reported from Dominica in the literature, but supporting material has not been found. These species, recorded due to inaccuracies of provenance of specimens or misidentifications, should be removed from the faunal list of the island:
Helicina antillarum (G. B. Sowerby, 1842) – The identity of this taxon remains uncertain. Brown’s report (Brown, 1881)[6] might be a misidentification of Helicina guppyi Pease, 1871.[3]
Lucidella plicatula (L. Pfeiffer, 1849) – This helicinid has been reported from throughout the West Indies. However, the Dominican Lucidella is clearly different.[3]
Vaginulus buergueri (Simroth, 1914) – This slug was reported from “Salilia, Dominica” by Forcart (1973).[15] This locality is not known in the island and could not be found in any gazetteer. However, the taxon is reported from the Dominican Republic (Baker, 1925),[16] so confusion seems likely.[3]
Drymaeus liliaceus (Férussac, 1821) – This species was reported from Dominica by Angas (1884) and Smith (1888). Férussac’s species is from Puerto Rico and Pilsbry (1899) mentions that he had not seen Dominican specimens. So far, no trace was found of any material that could confirm the presence of this taxon on Dominica. However, the occurrence of a Drymaeus species with a “uniform pale primrose colour” from the island should be further investigated.[3]
Amphibulima rubescens (Deshayes, 1830) – This species has been reported by various workers from Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante, Dominica and Martinique.[3] It is assumed now that this taxon is endemic to Martinique and that all other reports are misidentifications.[3]
Pisidium punctiferum (Guppy, 1867) – Up to the 1980s there were no reports of any freshwater bivalves on Dominica. This very small species is the only known freshwater bivalve on Dominica. It was discovered by the Austrian-French Hydrobiological Mission in 1979.[2]
Succineidae are a family of small to medium-sized, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Succineoidea.
Pleurodonte is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Pleurodontinae of the family Pleurodontidae.
Helicina guppyi is a species of tropical land snail with an operculum, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Helicinidae.
Helicina platychila is a species of tropical land snail with an operculum, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Helicinidae.
Helicina rhodostoma is a species of tropical land snail with an operculum, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Helicinidae.
Neritilia succinea is a species of submarine cave snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Neritiliidae.
Amphibulima patula is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Amphibulimidae.
Amphibulima is a genus of air-breathing land snails, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Amphibulimidae.
Amphibulima pardalina is a species of tropical air-breathing land snail, a pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Amphibulimidae.
Rhodonyx rubescens is a species of tropical air-breathing land snail, a pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Amphibulimidae.
References
This article incorporates CC-BY-3.0 text from the reference.[3]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 (in German) Starmühlner F. von (1988). "Ergebnisse der Österreichisch-Französischen Hydrobiologischen Mission 1979 nach Guadeloupe, Dominica und Martinique (Kleine Antillen). Teil II: Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Süß- und Brackwassermollusken von Guadeloupe, Dominica und Martinique". Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien Serie B, 90: 221–340. PDF.
1 2 Bland T. (1869). "Notes on the land-shells of Trinidad, Grenada and Dominica, and also of Curaçao and Buen Ayre, W.I." American Journal of Conchology4: 177–192.
1 2 3 Brown A. D. (1881). "Notes on the land-shells of Dominica". American Naturalist15: 56–57.
↑ Smith E. A. (1888). "On the Mollusca collected by G.A. Ramage at the island of Dominica. Report II." Annals and Magazine of Natural History (6)2: 419-420.
1 2 3 Pilsbry H. A. (1892). "On a collection of land Mollusca from the Island of Dominica, West Indies". Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Science8: 356-358.
↑ Prentice, M. A. (1980). "Schistosomiasis and its intermediate hosts in the Lesser Antillean islands of the Caribbean". Bulletin of the Pan American Health Organization. 14 (3): 258–268. PMID7006720..
1 2 Angas G. F. (1884). "On the terrestrial Mollusca of Dominica, collected during a recent visit to that island". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London1883: 594–597, figs. 1–3.
↑ Breure A. S. H. (1974). "Caribbean land molluscs: Bulimulidae, I. Bulimulus". Studies on the Fauna of Curaçao and other Caribbean Islands45: 1–80, figs. 1–80, pls 1–7, tables 1–17.
↑ Ramnath N. & Fields A. (2002). "A survey of the land snails of four islands in the Lesser Antilles: Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada". Abstracts Annual Meeting American Malacological Society, Charleston: 90.
1 2 Forcart L. (1973). "Notes on Veronicellidae and Athoracophoridae in Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago". The Nautilus87: 25–27.
↑ Baker H. B. (1925). "North American Veronicellidae". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia77: 157–184, pl. 4.
Further reading
Starmühlner F. von (1984). "Occurrence, longitudinal distribution and geographical range of the fresh- and brackish-water mollusks of the Lesser Antillean Islands (Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique)". Soossiana12: 83–102.
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