Ovachlamys fulgens
| Ovachlamys fulgens | |
|---|---|
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| A live individual of Ovachlamys fulgens, notice the caudal horn on the tail end of the foot | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Family: | Helicarionidae |
| Genus: | Ovachlamys |
| Species: | O. fulgens
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| Binomial name | |
| Ovachlamys fulgens | |
| Synonyms | |
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Macrochlamys fulgens Gude, 1900 | |
Ovachlamys fulgens is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helicarionidae.
Ovachlamys fulgens was originally discovered and described as Macrochlamys fulgens by the British malacologist Gerard Pierre Laurent Kalshoven Gude in 1900.[1]
Distribution
The type locality for this species is Ryukyu Islands (Loo-Choo Islands).[1] The type specimens are stored in the Florida Museum of Natural History.[2]
The snail is thought to be originally from the Ryukyu Islands.[3]
Ovachlamys fulgens has spread to various countries, most probably accidentally introduced with the orchid trade.[4] Non-indigenous distribution of Ovachlamys fulgens include:
Americas:
- Costa Rica[2][3] The most frequent non-indigenous distribution has this species in Costa Rica.[4]
- USA:
- Miami-Dade County, Florida - it has been reported since 2003, but its wide distribution in the areas sampled strongly indicates that it has been established in southern Florida for some time.[4]
- Broward County, Florida[3][5] - it has been reported since 2003.[4]
- Trinidad[3][4] and Tobago[4]
- Colombia[4]
- Brazil - since 2015[6]
Pacific:
Several Southeast Asian countries:
This species is already established in the US, and is considered to represent a potentially serious threat as a pest, an invasive species which could negatively affect agriculture, natural ecosystems, human health or commerce. Therefore, it has been suggested that this species be given top national quarantine significance in the USA.[7]
Description
The shell of this species is perforate, trochoid, thin, shining, pellucid and dark corneous.[1] The spire is depressed.[1] The apex is obtuse.[1] Sutures are linear and margined.[1] The shell has four whorls, that are increasing rather suddenly.[1] The last whorl is convex and a little inflated and it is twice as wide as the penultimate whorl.[1] Whorls are finely striated, decussated by microscopic spiral lines.[1] The last whorl is not descending and it is slightly excavated in the umbilical region.[1]
The aperture is slightly oblique, lunate.[1] The peristome is thin, straight, acute.[1] Margins of the aperture are distant, sub-parallel, the columellar margin a little reflected and nearly covering the very narrow umbilical perforation.[1]
The width of the shell is 6–7 mm.[1] The height of the shell is 4,5 mm.[1]
These snails are sometimes called "jumping snails" because the tail is modified with a caudal horn and the posterior part of the foot acts as a catapult to push off from contiguous substrates allowing the snail to suddenly move several inches.[3]
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Ecology
The habitats of Ovachlamys fulgens include pastures and crop fields with enough moisture and with deep leaf litter cover.[2] For example, habitats with Yucca guatemalensis provide good conditions for this species.[2] The snails are mostly found in soil litter and on plants up to 8 feet in height in areas of secondary growth and tree plantations.[3] Ideal collecting time is after rainfall.[3]
This species is considered an important orchid pest.[3] It is phytophagous[4] and is reported to attack a wide variety of horticultural plants, but the snails are mostly found among soil litter and become dormant during dry periods.[3] It has been found on avocado, mango, Heliconia and Dracaena.[3] Leaves of the avocado can be also used to raise juveniles in the laboratory.[8]
Little scientific data has been gathered on the biology of this species.[3]
Individuals ofOvachlamys fulgens can lay eggs at the age of 42 days and are considered mature when their shell width reaches 5.12 mm.[8] There is no need for the snails to mate in order to lay eggs and for successful reproduction.[8] Eggs are laid in clutches of three in soil or leaf litter where they absorb more water from the environment.[8]
The lifespan of Ovachlamys fulgens is 9 months in the laboratory.[8]
Parasites
Parasites of Ovachlamys fulgens includes Angiostrongylus cantonensis.[6]
References
This article incorporates public domain text from the reference[1] and a public domain work of the United States Government from references.[3][4]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q
Gude G. K. (1900). "Further notes on helicoid land shells from Japan, the Loo-Choo, and Bonin Islands, with descriptions of seven new species". Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London 4: 70-80. page 75. Table VIII, figure 24-26.
- ^ a b c d (in Spanish) Barrientos Z. (24 September 1999). "Ovachlamys fulgens (Gude, 1900)" Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio), accessed 27 August 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Stange L. A. (created September 2004, updated March 2006). "Snails and Slugs of Regulatory Significance to Florida" Archived 2 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. accessed 27 August 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Robinson D. G. (16 June 2003). "Invasive Mollusk Survey of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, Florida June 2003". Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. PDF[permanent dead link].
- ^ Robinson, D.G. & J. Slapcinsky. 2005. Recent introductions of alien land snails into North America. American Malacological Bulletin 20:89-93.
- ^ a b Teixeira, Larissa; Cunha, Carlo Magenta; Bornschein, Marcos R. (27 October 2017). "First record of the Japanese land snail Ovachlamys fulgens (Gude, 1900) (Gastropoda, Helicarionidae) in Brazil". Check List. 13 (5): 703–706. doi:10.15560/13.5.703. ISSN 1809-127X.
- ^ Cowie R. H., Dillon R. T., Robinson D. G. & Smith J. W. (2009). "Alien non-marine snails and slugs of priority quarantine importance in the United States: A preliminary risk assessment". American Malacological Bulletin 27: 113-132. PDF Archived 16 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b c d e Barrientos Z. (1998). "Life history of the terrestrial snail Ovachlamys fulgens (Stylommatophora: Helicarionidae) under laboratory conditions". Revista de Biología Tropical 46(2): 369-384. PDF Archived 2 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine. HTM in the Google chache.
Further reading
- (in Spanish) Barrientos Z. (1996). "Distribución y ciclo de vida del caracol terrestre Ovachlamys fulgens (Gude, 1900) (Stylommatophora: Helicarionidae)". MSc Thesis, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
External links
- Ovachlamys fulgens on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site