The common name comes from the presence of reddish spots on the otherwise greenish-brown shell.[5]
The species name is sometimes spelled Melanoides tuberculatus, but this is incorrect because Melanoides Olivier, 1804 was clearly intended to be feminine because it was combined with the feminine specific epithetfasciolata in the original description.[3][4]
This species is native to northern Africa and southern Asia,[6] but it has been accidentally introduced in many other tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. It has also been accidentally introduced to heated aquaria in colder parts of the world.
Melanoides tuberculata tuberculata (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Shell description
[edit]Red-rimmed melania shell, with the characteristic red spots and streaks apparent. Specimen length approximately 20 millimetres (3⁄4in).Melanoides tuberculata
This species has an elongate, conical shell, which is usually light brown, marked with rust-colored spots.[6]Anoperculum is present.[6] In some places, such as in Israel, the shells are colored in black or dark brown, probably to help conceal the snail on the background of the basalt rocks of the Sea of Galilee (Kinnereth).[7]
The average shell length is about 20–27 millimetres (3⁄4–1+1⁄8in)[8]or30–36 millimetres (1+1⁄8–1+3⁄8in), but exceptional specimens may be up to 80 millimetres (3+1⁄8in) long.[6] Shells of this species have 10–15 whorls.[8]
Distribution
[edit]Variety of Melanoides tuberculata shells, some of them are dark brown or nearly black.
This species is native to northern Africa and southern Asia.[6]
in Africa
Algeria, Burundi, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger,[1]
South Africa (Eastern Cape Province, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo Province)[1]
Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India (including Andaman Islands), Israel,[7] Japan, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia), Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam[1]
This species has become established outside of its natural range in large part through the activities of aquarists.[5][6] These snails were imported to the United States by the aquarium trade as early as the 1930s.[6] Established populations exist from Florida to Texas, and the species may still be expanding its range in the West and Northeast.[6]
Some of these exotic populations have become very large, with densities of 10,000 per square metre (930/sq ft) being reported from the St. Johns RiverinFlorida.[23] In some cases red-rimmed melanias are believed to have a negative impact on native snail populations.[5]
The nonindigenous distribution includes the United States: Arizona; San Francisco Bay, California;[6] Colorado; Florida; Hawai'i; Louisiana;[6] Montana; North Carolina; Nevada; Oregon; Utah;[6] Texas,[6] and Fall River County in South Dakota,[24] (unconfirmed in Virginia, and Wyoming.)[6]
Although normally a freshwater snail, this species is very tolerant of brackish water, and has been recorded in waters with a salinity of 32.5 ppt (1,024 specific gravity salinity).
It is however a warm-climate species. It appears to prefer a temperature range of 18 to 25 °C (64 to 77 °F)[5] or of 18 to 32 °C (64 to 90 °F).[6] Research has been conducted to determine the snail's lethal high water temperature, which is about 50 °C (122 °F).[6] This information is helpful in the disinfection of fishing gear and research equipment, which otherwise may inadvertently spread the snails to uninfested waters.[6][25]
This species is resistant to low oxygen levels.[26] The pollution tolerance value is 3 (on scale 0–10; 0 is the best water quality, 10 is the worst water quality).[27]
Red-rimmed melania females are both parthenogenic and ovoviviparous.[6][28] Females can be recognized by their greenish coloured gonads while males have reddish gonads. Under good conditions, females will produce fertilised eggs that are transferred to a brood pouch where they remain until they hatch (parthenogenesis and viviparity).[23]Melanoides tuberculata has 1–64 embryos in its brood pouch.[28] Snails will begin reproducing at a size as small as 5 millimetres (1⁄4in)[28]or10 millimetres (3⁄8in) in length and broods may contain over seventy offspring (iteroparity).[5] The size of the shell of the parent at peak release of juveniles is 20.0 millimetres (3⁄4in).[28] The size of juveniles at birth is 1.2–2.2 millimetres (3⁄64–11⁄128in).[28]
Melanoides tuberculata grows to a similar size as Tarebia granifera, are similar in size at first birth and juvenile output.[28]
Melanoides tuberculata is known to carry certain parasites which can be dangerous to humans. Pinto & de Melo (2011)[30] compiled a checklist of 37 species of trematode parasites from this species of snail.[30] Eleven of those trematodes are also parasites of human.[30] These snails serve as first intermediate host for parasites which include:[5][26]
Red-rimmed melanias are quite commonly found in freshwater aquaria, but opinion in the hobby is divided between those who see them as a pest species, and those who value their usefulness as algae-eaters and substrate-cleaners.[34]
Melanoides tigrina (T. Hutton, 1850) junior subjective synonym
Melanoides tuberculata var. dautzenbergi Pilsbry & Bequaert, 1927 junior subjective synonym (replacement name for Melania tuberculata var. victoriae Dautzenberg, 1908)
Melanoides tuberculatus (O. F. Müller, 1774) incorrect grammatical agreement of specific epithet
Nerita tuberculata O. F. Müller, 1774 superseded combination
Striatella tuberculata (O. F. Müller, 1774) superseded combination (Striatella is a junior synonym of...)
This article incorporates public domain text from references[3][6]
^ abcdefghiMadhyastha A. (2010). Melanoides tuberculatus. In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 3 December 2010.
^Müller O. F. (1774). Vermivm terrestrium et fluviatilium, seu animalium infusoriorum, helminthicorum, et testaceorum, non-marinorum, succincta historia. Volumen alterum. pp. I-XXVI [= 1–36], 1–214, [1–10]. Havniæ & Lipsiæ. (Heineck & Faber). page 191.
^ abDr. David Darom and Dr. Moshe Tsurnamal, Handbook of the Seashores of Israel (Guide to the Sea and Shores of Israel, Fauna and Flora), Keter Publishing, 1992 (Hebrew).
^ abGlöer P. (2002). Die Süßwassergastropoden Nord- und Mitteleuropas. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands, ConchBooks, Hackenheim, 326 pp., ISBN3-925919-60-0, page 74.
^(in French) Sarr A., Kinzelbach R. & Diouf M. (2011, in press). "Diversité spécifique et écologie des mollusques continenatux de la basse vallée du Ferlo (Sénégal). [Specific diversity and ecology of continental molluscs from the Lower Ferlo Valley (Senegal)]". MalaCo7: 8 pp. PDFArchived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
^Vázquez A. A. & Perera S. (2010). "Endemic Freshwater molluscs of Cuba and their conservation status". Tropical Conservation Science3(2): 190–199. HTM, PDF.
^Duggan I. C. (2002). "First record of a wild population of the tropical snail Melanoides tuberculata in New Zealand natural waters". New Zeal. J. Mar. Fresh. Res.36: 825–829.
^Chrosciechowski Z. Przemyslaw K y Arcas, Enrique. 1989: Caracoles (gastrópodos) de agua dulce en el Valle de Caripe Estado Monagas, Venezuela. Boletín de la Dirección de Malariología y Saneamiento Ambiental. XXIX(1–4):47–63
^Prypchan, Sofía de., y Chrosciechowski, Przemyslaw. 1992: Invasión de las aguas dulces del litoral central venezolano (DF) por caracoles del genero Thiara (Melaniidae)
Boletín de la Dirección de Malariología y Saneamiento Ambiental. XXXII(1–4):50–58
^Pointier, Jean Pierre., Balzán C, Carlos .y Chrosciechowski, Przemyslaw. 1994: Técnicas de muestreo de los caracoles de agua dulce en Venezuela. Boletín de la Dirección de Malariología y Saneamiento Ambiental. XXXIV(1–4):1–6
^Ojasti, Juhani., González Jiménez, Eduardo, Szeplaki Otahola, Eduardo. y García Román, Luis B. 2001: Informe sobre las especies exótica en Venezuela. Ministerio del Ambiente y de los Recursos Naturales Caracas. 207p. ISBN980-04-1254-9
^Lasso, Carlos A., Martínez E, Rafael, Capelo, Juan Carlos., Morales Betancourt, Mónica y Sánchez- Maya, Alejandro. 2009: Lista de los moluscos (Gastropodos_Bivalvia) dulceacuícolas y estuarinos de la cuenca del Orinoco (Venezuela). Biota Colombiana, 10(1 -2):63–74.
^ abWingard G. L., Murray J. B., Schill W. B. & Phillips E. C. (published online May 2008). "Red-rimmed melania (Melanoides tuberculatus)—A snail in Biscayne National Park, Florida—Harmful invader or just a nuisance?". U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2008–3006, 6 p. available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3006/
^Young S.-S., Yang H.-N., Huang D.-J., Liu S.-M., Huang Y.-H., Chiang C.-T. & Liu, J.-W. (2014). "Using Benthic Macroinvertebrate and Fish Communities as Bioindicators of the Tanshui River Basin Around the Greater Taipei Area – Multivariate Analysis of Spatial Variation Related to Levels of Water Pollution". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health11(7): 7116–7143. doi:10.3390/ijerph110707116.
^ abcdefAppleton C. C., Forbes A. T.& Demetriades N. T. (2009). "The occurrence, bionomics and potential impacts of the invasive freshwater snail Tarebia granifera (Lamarck, 1822) (Gastropoda: Thiaridae) in South Africa". Zoologische Mededelingen83. http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/83/nr03/a04Table 2.
^Silva E. C., Molozzi J. & Callisto M. (2010). "Size-mass relationships of Melanoides tuberculatus (Thiaridae: Gastropoda) in a eutrophic reservoir". Zoologia27(5): 691–695. doi:10.1590/S1984-46702010000500004, PDF
^ abcPinto H. A. & de Melo A. L. (2011). "A checklist of trematodes (Platyhelminthes) transmitted by Melanoides tuberculata (Mollusca: Thiaridae)". Zootaxa2799: 15–28. abstract.
^ abcdefghijklmVogler R. E., Núñez V., Gregoric D. E. G., Beltramino A. A. & Peso J. G. (2012). "Melanoides tuberculata: The history of an invader". pp. 65–84. In: Hämäläinen E. M. & Järvinen S. (eds.) Snails. Biology, Ecology and Conservations. Nova Science Publishers, ISBN978-1-62100-788-3.
^(in Spanish) Vergara D. & Velásquez L. E. (2009). "LARVAS DE DIGENEA EN Melanoides tuberculata (GASTROPODA: THIARIDAE) EN MEDELLÍN, COLOMBIA. Larval stages of digenea from Melanoides tuberculata (Gastropoda: Thiaridae) in Medellín, Colombia". Acta Biológica Colombiana14(1): 135–142. abstractArchived 22 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, PDFArchived 22 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
^Karamian, M.; Aldhoun, J. A.; Maraghi, S.; Hatam, G.; Farhangmehr, B.; Sadjjadi, S. M. (2010). "Parasitological and molecular study of the furcocercariae from Melanoides tuberculata as a probable agent of cercarial dermatitis". Parasitology Research. 108 (4): 955–962. doi:10.1007/s00436-010-2138-x. PMID21046153. S2CID10382418.
^Riehl R. & Baensch H. (1996). Aquarium Atlas (vol. 1) p. 899, Voyageur Press, ISBN3-88244-050-3.
Mitchell, A. J.; Brandt, T. M. (2005). "Temperature Tolerance of Red-Rim Melania Melanoides tuberculatus, an Exotic Aquatic Snail Established in the United States". Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 134 (1): 126–131. Bibcode:2005TrAFS.134..126M. doi:10.1577/FT03-178.1.
Pointier J. P. (1993). "The introduction of Melanoides tuberculata (Mollusca: Thiaridae) to the island of Saint Lucia (West Indies) and its role in the decline of Biomphalaria glabrata, the snail intermediate host of Schistosoma mansoni". Acta Trop. 54:13–18.
Giovanelli A., Vieira M. V. & da Silva C. L. P. A. C. (2002) "Interaction between the Intermediate Host of Schistosomiasis in Brazil Biomphalaria glabrata (Planorbidae) and a Possible Competitor Melanoides tuberculata (Thiaridae): I. Laboratory Experiments." Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz97(3): 363–369. PDF
