Pseudosuccinea columella

Pseudosuccinea columella
Conservation status
NE[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Hygrophila
Superfamily:	Lymnaeoidea
Family:	Lymnaeidae
Subfamily:	Lymnaeinae[2]
Genus:	Pseudosuccinea
Species:	P. columella
Binomial name
Pseudosuccinea columella (Say, 1817)[3]
Synonyms[4]
Lymnaea columella Say, 1817 Lymnaea ubaquensis Piaget, 1914[5]

Pseudosuccinea columella, common name the "American ribbed fluke snail", is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.

This snail is an intermediate host for Fasciola hepatica, the liver fluke, a parasite of livestock, especially sheep.^[6]

Distribution

Indigenous

Pseudosuccinea columella is native to North America.^[7] and Europe.^[8] The indigenous distribution of Pseudosuccinea columella reaches from New Brunswick and south Manitoba throughout the eastern USA to Central and South America.^[9]

The exact type locality for this species is unknown, but it is somewhere in the Philadelphia area, USA.^[10]

Introduced

This snail has been introduced to Australia^[7] and Europe.^[11]

Distribution map for Australia where it is an introduced species

The non-indigenous distribution of Pseudosuccinea columella includes:

• western USA^[9] (distribution map in the USA)
• Puerto Rico^[10]
• Venezuela^[10]
• Brazil:^[10] Rio Grande do Sul^[12]
• Argentina^[10]
• Australia^[7][9]
• South Africa^[9][13] - since 1942^[10]
• other countries in Africa^[10]
• Pacific islands^[10]

Europe:

• Switzerland (Basel)^[9]
• Austria (Villach)^[9]
• Hungary^[9]
• Greece (Nómos Florina)^[9]
• Menorca^[9] (a Spanish island)
• France - in the wild^[10]
• Czech Republic as a "hothouse alien"^[14]
• Latvia as a "hothouse alien"^[15]

Description

The shell quite closely resembles shells in the genus Succinea, which belongs to a different family.

The shell of Pseudosuccinea columella is horny brown, thin, translucent, fragile and very finely striated. The apex is pointed. The shell has 3.5-4 weakly convex whorls with a shallow suture. The last whorl predominates. The aperture is ovate. The upper palatal margin descends steeply. The columellar margin is reflected only at its upper section; the lower columellar margin sharp and straight.^[9]

The width of the shell is 8–13 mm. The height of the shell is 15–20 mm.^[9]

Apertural view of the shell

Abapertural view of the shell

The animal is dusky with whitish spots. The eyes are small and black and are located at the inner base of the tentacles.^[9]

The haploid number of chromosomes is 18 (n=18).^[16]

Habitat

In North America, Pseudosuccinea columella lives in stagnant waters, at the edges of lakes, ponds, muddy and sluggish streams, among lily pads and reeds on sticks and mud.^[9]

In Europe it occurs predominantly in greenhouses, but also sometimes in outdoor habitats (Austria, Hungary).^[9] It needs warm water and does not survive Central European winter temperatures.^[9] It is also found above the water on floating leaves of aquatic plants; in northern Greece it was found in a spring near a road.^[9]

Parasites

Parasites of Pseudosuccinea columella include:

• In North America, Pseudosuccinea columella is major intermediate host of Fasciola hepatica.^[6][17]
• The species also serve as a snail host for Fascioloides magna.^[18]
• Also serves as a host for the cercariae of the trematode Telorchis sp.^[19]

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference ^[9]

1. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Cited 22 July 2007.
2. Glöer P. (2002). Die Süßwassergastropoden Nord- und Mitteleuropas. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands, ConchBooks, Hackenheim, 326 pp., ISBN 3-925919-60-0.
3. Say T. (1817). "Description of seven species of American fresh water and land shells, not noticed in the systems". Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(1-2): 13-18. page 14-15.
4. Bargues M. D., Artigas P., Khoubbane M. & Mas-Coma S. (2011). "DNA sequence characterisation and phylogeography of Lymnaea cousini and related species, vectors of fascioliasis in northern Andean countries, with description of L. meridensis n. sp. (Gastropoda: Lymnaeidae)". Parasites & Vectors 4: 132. doi:10.1186/1756-3305-4-132.
5. Piaget J. (1914). "Quelques Mollusques de Colombie". Mémoires de la Société neuchâteloise des Sciences Naturelles, Neuchâtel, 5: 253-269. page 266, plate 9, figure 5.
6. Torgerson P. & Claxton J. (1999). "Epidemiology and Control". In: Dalton J. P. (ed.) "Fasciolosis". CAB International, Wallingford, pp. 113-149.
7. "Pseudosuccinea columella (Say)". Last updated 19 September 2004, accessed 28 March 2011.
8. e., R. (2002). "Molecular phylogenetic relationships in the aquatic snail genus Lymnaea , the intermediate host of the causative agent of fascioliasis: Insights from broader taxon sampling". Parasitology Research 88 (7): 687–696. doi:10.1007/s00436-002-0658-8. PMID 12107463.
9. "Species summary for Pseudosuccinea columella". AnimalBase, last modified 25 March 2011, accessed 28 March 2011.
10. Pointier, J. P.; Coustau, C.; Rondelaud, D.; Theron, A. (2007). "Pseudosuccinea columella (Say 1817) (Gastropoda, Lymnaeidae), snail host of Fasciola hepatica: First record for France in the wild". Parasitology Research 101 (5): 1389–1392. doi:10.1007/s00436-007-0656-y. PMID 17661191.
11. e., R. (2002). "Molecular phylogenetic relationships in the aquatic snail genus Lymnaea , the intermediate host of the causative agent of fascioliasis: Insights from broader taxon sampling". Parasitology Research 88 (7): 687–696. doi:10.1007/s00436-002-0658-8. PMID 12107463.
12. Agudo-Padrón A. I. (14 May 2009). "Recent Terrestrial and Freshwater Molluscs of Rio Grande do Sul State, RS, Southern Brazil Region: A Comprehensive Synthesis and Check List". Visaya April 2009, pages 1-13. PDF.
13. Appleton 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 Mededelingen 83. http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/83/nr03/a04
14. (Czech) Horsák M., Juřičková L., Beran L., Čejka T. & Dvořák L. (2010). "Komentovaný seznam měkkýšů zjištěných ve volné přírodě České a Slovenské republiky. [Annotated list of mollusc species recorded outdoors in the Czech and Slovak Republics]". Malacologica Bohemoslovaca Suppl. 1: 1-37. PDF.
15. Stalazs A. (2002). "List of snail species in Latvia". Last modifications 21 August 2002, accessed 28 March 2011.
16. Correa, A. C.; Escobar, J. S.; Durand, P.; Renaud, F. O.; David, P.; Jarne, P.; Pointier, J. P.; Hurtrez-Boussès, S. (2010). "Bridging gaps in the molecular phylogeny of the Lymnaeidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata), vectors of Fascioliasis". BMC Evolutionary Biology 10: 381. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-381. PMC 3013105. PMID 21143890.
17. First report of larval stages of Fasciola hepatica in a wild population of Pseudosuccinea columella from Cuba and the Caribbean, Journal of Helminthology, 2011, 85 (1), p. 109-111
18. Krull W. H. (1933). "New snail hosts for Fasciola magna (Bassi, 1875) Stiles, 1894". J. Parasitol. 20: 107-108.
19. Echaubard, P.; Little, K.; Pauli, B.; Lesbarrères, D. (2010). Brown, Justin, ed. "Context-Dependent Effects of Ranaviral Infection on Northern Leopard Frog Life History Traits". PLoS ONE 5 (10): e13723. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013723. PMC 2965661. PMID 21060894.

External links

• "Pseudosuccinea columella". National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).