Checklist of bivalve molluscs in mangroves of Khánh Hòa Province, Vietnam

ABSTRACT

The diversity of bivalves was studied in four mangrove stands in the vicinity of Nha Trang city: planted mangroves in Dâm Bay (Tre Island) and three natural associations, in Dâm Bay, Nha Phu Bay and Cam Ranh Bay. Forty-five species from 18 families of bivalve molluscs were recorded in total. The richest families were Veneridae (eight species), Tellinidae (six species) and Lucinidae (five species). Five of the species are considered to be true mangrove associates, while others are eurybiotic species normally inhabiting mudflats and hard intertidal substrata, although some of them are commonly found in mangroves. An illustrated guide is provided, with short synonymies and data on ecology and distribution. The recorded molluscan diversity is compared with published data on mangrove Bivalvia in different regions of the Indo-Pacific. Since all characteristic groups and mangrove associates were present in our samples (except wood-borers that were not sampled), species composition of studied mangrove stands in Vietnam fits the general pattern of Indo-Pacific mangrove bivalve fauna.

KEYWORDS:

• Biodiversity
• mangrove-associated fauna
• planted mangroves
• South China Sea

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our colleagues from A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution: P. Yu Dgebuadze, A.E. Fedosov, I.N. Marin, P. V.O. Barkalova and A.V. Zykova; colleagues from Moscow State University E.V. Vortsepneva and A.E. Zhadan; B.I. Sirenko from Zoological Institute for their assistance in fieldwork. The fieldwork in Vietnam was supported by the Coastal Branch of the Russian Vietnamese Tropical Center (Nha Trang, Vietnam), and we also thank colleagues from Tropical Centre Nguyễn Thị Hải Thanh, Trần Quốc Hoàn and Nguyễn Văn Quang for their assistance in organising and conducting material collection. We especially acknowledge the support of specialists in molluscan taxonomy P. Maestrati (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris) and J.D. Taylor (The Natural History Museum, London). We thank the managing editor and reviewers for their valuable comments on earlier versions of our manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Sofya S. Zvonareva http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0372-9919

Yury I. Kantor http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3209-4940

Additional information

Funding

The work was partially financed by grant 16-14-10118-П from the Russian Science Foundation (PI Yu.I. Kantor).