Camouflaged invasion of Lake Malawi by an Oriental gastropod.
In this study we report the first animal invasion, to our knowledge, into Lake Malawi. The colonizer is a non-native morph of the gastropod Melanoides tuberculata that differs substantially in external shell characters from co-occurring indigenous forms. However, because the species possesses extensive within-Africa geographical variation in shell morphology, it was unclear whether the invasion was range expansion of a native African morph, or a colonization from elsewhere. Mitochondrial DNA sequences indicate a southeast Asian origin for the invader, suggesting that shell variation found among indigenous allopatric populations camouflaged an intercontinental invasion.
Genner
Martin J
MJ
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94766, 1090 GT Amsterdam, the Netherlands. mjgenner@hotmail.com
Michel
Ellinor
E
Erpenbeck
Dirk
D
De Voogd
Nicole
N
Witte
Frans
F
Pointier
Jean-Pierre
JP
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D003710:Demography; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005618:Fresh Water; D005843:Geography; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008295:Malawi; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D011157:Population Dynamics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012908:Snails / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial