Limnoperna fortunei - Updating the geographic distribution in the Brazilian watersheds and mapping the regional occurrence in the Upper Uruguay River basin

Abstract

Limnoperna fortunei is an invasive alien species (IAS) that cause serious ecological and economic problems in Brazilian freshwater environments. Due to its high dispersion capacity and the lack of new records in peer-reviewed journals we carried out an extensive survey to update the distribution of L. fortunei in the Brazilian hydrographic basins. We also performed a detailed investigation of its distribution in the Upper Uruguay River basin using a molecular method. We presented new records, showing the invasion in new basins and a wide distribution in the basins previously infested. Additionally, we confirmed that the Upper Uruguay River is fully colonized by the golden mussel, being distributed in the lentic, lotic, and transitional lotic/lentic environments presented in this region. This update is an important tool for the implementation of guidelines and the development of safety protocols and sanitary barriers to avoid the dispersion of this IAS to new environments..

Distribution of invasive bivalves in Paraguay: filling the gaps in the heart of South America

“…in the country, most of them from areas shared with Argentina or Brazil (Peso et al, 2011;Oliveira et al, 2015;Hermes-Silva et al, 2021). A comprehensive revision of the golden mussel invasion in La Plata Basin was done recently by Oliveira et al (2015) and Ludwig et al (2021), however, with scarce records from Paraguay and several occurrences upstream (Brazil) and downstream (Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay).…”

“…These authors reported the presence of seven non-native species in the La Plata Basin, from which were highlighted Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774), the Asiatic clam; and Limnoperna fortunei (Dunker, 1857), the golden mussel. Corbicula species arrived in South America in the 1970s and Limnoperna fortunei some years later (around the 1990s), both are widespread now (Darrigran et al, 2020;Miyahira et al, 2020;Hermes-Silva et al, 2021). Invasive species can promote modification of environmental and biological aspects of the invaded habitat (e.g., Sousa et al, 2014;Boltovskoy & Correa, 2015), affecting not only native molluscs, but also other taxonomic groups.…”