Freshwater Mollusks of the World - A Distribution Atlas

As co-chair of the systematics committee of the American Malacological Society (Ken Hayes is the other co-chair), I'd like to take this moment to share a link on a new book, which has just been released entitled "Freshwater Mollusks of the World - A Distribution Atlas" edited by myself and Kevin S. Cummings and including contributing authors from around the world.  For more information about the book and list of contributing authors, please go to:

https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/freshwater-mollusks-world

Although the publisher states it won't be shipped until April, it is now being shipped.

Dear Readers:

 

World Congress of Malacology 2019 - Pacific Grove, California

The 2019 World Congress of Malacology will be held at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California, 11-16 August, 2019. This “Refuge by the Sea” is ideally situated on the shores of beautiful Monterey Peninsula of California’s central coast, and boasts 107 acres of forests, dunes and beaches. Monterey Bay Aquarium and historic Cannery Row, as well as the scenic Big Sur Coastline, are short drives away. The meeting will be jointly sponsored by UNITAS Malacologica, the American Malacological Society (AMS) and the Western Society of Malacologists (WSM).

The congress will last five days, with four days of talks and one day mid-week scheduled for field trips. Participants have several travel options: Monterey Regional Airport, serviced by a number of regional airlines, is 8 miles from Asilomar and a short cab ride away. Mineta San Jose International is 80 miles to the north and San Francisco International Airport is 110 miles to the north; the Monterey Airbus departs SFO and SJC almost hourly and takes passengers directly to Asilomar. Congress attendees are strongly encouraged to stay at Asilomar. Lodging costs include all meals, including the banquet. The cost for staying onsite can be reduced by sharing rooms, and residence options include single, double, triple, and quadruple rooms. An upcharge in registration fees will be applied to anyone staying offsite in order to offset charges incurred by meeting attendees that are not included in the residence package. Given the concurrent “Little Car Show” and “Rotary Concours Auto Rally” in Pacific Grove that week, alternative sources of accommodation are expected to be expensive and in short supply. Participants are encouraged to book soon to reserve their spot at Asilomar before our excess rooms are released.

Abstract submission, registration and housing reservations are now open. Please see https://www.calacademy.org/world-congress-of-malacology-2019. Additional details on the scientific program and field trip options will be coming soon. Early registration ends April 15!

2018 Annual AMS-WSM meeting in Hawaii!

The 84th Annual American Malacological Society (AMS) and 51st Western Society of Malacologists (WSM) meetings will be co-hosted in Honolulu, Hawaii this year from June 19th-23rd, 2018.  The meeting will be held at the beautiful Hilton Waikiki Beach Hotel and begin with a reception at the Waikiki Aquarium and end with a banquet at the Bishop Museum.  Please do your best to attend this years meeting and take part in all things malacological including an opportunity to explore Hawaii.  Get all the details of the meeting at the following link:  https://ams.wildapricot.org/Meeting.

Invasion of Arion subfuscus/fuscus complex

Érik L’Heureux

Department of Biological Sciences

Arion fuscus, Johnville Bog & Forest Park, Johnville, Quebec, Canada,  2017

Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada

Constance Boone Award at the American Malacological Society

I had the opportunity to participate and present my research at the 83rd meeting of the American Malacological Society. During this conference, I learned a lot about several new topics and met a lot of passionate people. This congress was rich in exchanges of knowledge. I greatly appreciated my experience and hope to have the chance to come back year after year.

I study a group of terrestrial slug species called the Arion subfuscus/fuscus complex. These European slugs are now very common in northeastern North America. During my master's degree, I collected specimens throughout southern Québec (Canada). Of course, I was fortunate to have help from many people who also collected specimens for my project. I have identified molecularly more than 750 individuals [1]. Comparing the present distribution of this complex in Québec with the distribution as determined in the 1960s by Chichester and Getz [2], I found that it has had an incredible expansion of distribution over the last 50 years. Thanks to the molecular identification of the haplotypes, it was possible to determine that the slugs of the complex dispersed mainly passively on a large scale. Although A. fuscus and A. subfuscus were detected, A. fuscus is by far the most common species in Québec, which is surprising, as previous studies did not report this species in the northeast of the United States [3]. My hypothesis is that the border could restrict the passive dispersion of slugs via human activities, which I would like to investigate in the coming years by sampling in the northern United States.

For my Ph.D. project, preliminary results indicate that A. fuscus is extremely generalist in its choice of habitats. The next step of the project will be to assess the determinants of the invasion success of A. fuscus in North America. I will try to elucidate the strategies used by this species to occupy several types of habitats. To achieve this objective, I plan to use genetic and transcriptomic techniques to estimate genetic diversity and to assess the environment-dependent gene expression. Finally, I will measure environment-dependent morphological variations. Thanks to these multiple approaches, I will try to determine the role of plasticity or tolerance in this invasive exotic species and, of course, I would like to present my results next year at the meeting! This project will allow to understand how exotic species with very limited genetic diversity can manage to invade many habitats.

References

 

[1]     L’Heureux, É., and Angers, B. in press. A discreet invasion: distribution, origins, and expansion of the European slug complex Arion subfuscus s. l. in Québec. Canadian Journal of Zoology.

[2]     Chichester, L.F., and Getz, L.L. 1969. The zoogeography and ecology of arionid and limacid slugs introduced into northeastern North America. Malacologia. 7: 313-346.

[3]     Pinceel, J., Jordaens, K., Van Houtte, N., Bernon, G., and Backeljau, T. 2005. Population genetics and identity of an introduced terrestrial slug: Arion subfuscus s.l. in the north-east USA (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Arionidae). Genetica. 125: 155-171.