Detection of two species of non-indigenous freshwater snails in Arctic Siberia

ABSTRACT

Some species of freshwater gastropods, known for their adaptability and resilience, have gained attention globally as invasive species. However, to date, only one invasive population of freshwater snails has been documented beyond the Arctic Circle. In this study, we report the discovery of two non-indigenous species, Planorbella duryi (Wetherby, 1879) and Physella acuta (Draparnaud, 1805), north of 69°N in the Norilsk Industrial District (Central Siberia). Their identification was based on morphological features and COI gene sequences. Both species are native to the temperate and subtropical zones of North America and may have entered the Arctic Asian reservoirs through aquarium introductions. The distribution of these populations is constrained to areas affected by thermal pollution, and their further spread into pristine reservoirs of Northern Siberia is unlikely.

KEYWORDS:

• Aquarium
• Asia
• Physella acuta
• Planorbella duryi
• species invasion
• thermal pollution

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials. The R-Script for processing, aligning and filtering DNA sequences is available at https://github.com/anisus3/Phylogeny (accessed 1 April 2023).

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan [grant number BR18574058 to I.O.N.] and the Russian Science Foundation [grant numbers 19-14-00066/P to E.S.B. and M.V.V. and No 21-74-10155 to O.V.A. and I.S.K.].