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Notodiscus (Charopidae) on South Georgia: some implications of shell size, shell shape, and site isolation in a singular sub-Antarctic land snail

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2011

P.J.A. Pugh  and
R.I. Lewis Smith
P.J.A. Pugh*
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK
R.I. Lewis Smith
Affiliation:
Centre for Antarctic Plant Ecology and Diversity, Alton Road, Moffat DG10 9LB, UK
*
philip.pugh@anglia.ac.uk
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Abstract

Multivariate analysis shows that shells of Notodiscus sp. (Charopidae: Pulmonata) reported from South Georgia are smaller and proportionately taller than, but otherwise similar to, populations of Notodiscus hookeri (Reeve) from Iles Crozet and Iles Kerguelen. The origin of this solitary, and spatially limited, South Georgia population is enigmatic. It is confined to a remarkably small coastal lowland site which was glaciated at Last Glacial Maximum, precluding a Tertiary relict origin, and on the leeward north-east coast, ruling out post-glacial ocean rafting. The site is close to the King Edward Point settlement, yet the absence of any logistics connections with the Iles Crozet or Iles Kerguelen mitigates against anthropogenic introduction. The close proximity of the population to nests of blue-eyed shag (Phalacrocorax atriceps), Dominican gull (Larus dominicanus) and light-mantled sooty albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata) could imply the snail was originally introduced to South Georgia via these ocean transiting seabirds.

Keywords

colonizationGastropodaNotodiscusSouthern Ocean islandszoochory
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 23 , Issue 5 , October 2011 , pp. 442 - 448
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2011

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