World Congress of Malacology Antwerp ... - Unitas Malacologica

soil type and geological age) for Peninsular Malaysia. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling
(NMDS) was used to investigate how species compositions varied across karsts for both regions.
Sampling from 16 karsts in Peninsular Malaysia yielded a total of 198 terrestrial mollusc species
from 49 genera, while 173 species from 64 genera were sampled from 27 karsts in Sabah. The
GLMM revealed an important contribution of karst area and surrounding soil type on molluscan
endemic richness. The most parsimonious model had 63.6% of the AICc weight and explained over
18% of the deviance in the total number of endemic species per karst. NMDS showed that karsts
separated by vicariant barriers in different parts of Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah had distinct
malacofaunas. To maximise the protection of endemic molluscs, karst conservation planning should
therefore take karst area and surrounding soil type into account, together with the effects of vicariant
barriers such as mountains and rivers. The results from this study can be used to improve decisionmaking
processes involving karst reserve location, which have generally been lacking in firm
scientific basis.
Molecular phylogenetics of the land snail genus Anguispira (Pulmonata: Discidae)
Clutts, Stephanie A.; Anderson, Frank E.
Southern Illinois University, Department of Zoology, Mailcode 6501, Carbondale, Illinois USA
62901-6501,
Email: saclutts@siu.edu; feander@siu.edu
Anguispira is a group of common land snails found primarily in eastern North America. There are
currently thirteen recognized species within Anguispira. Some Anguispira species have broad
distributions covering several states, while others have highly restricted ranges. Two Anguispira
species are known from the western U.S. One of these (A. kochi) has a disjunct distribution, with
western populations in Idaho and Montana separated from eastern populations by nearly 2500
kilometers. The other, A. nimapuna, is known only from a single county in Idaho. In addition, four
species of Anguispira are currently listed as imperiled or vulnerable and A. picta is listed as a
federally threatened species.
A phylogenetic study of Anguispira could allow many intriguing questions to be addressed, including
(1) Is A. kochi monophyletic? (2) How is A. nimapuna related to the other Anguispira species? (3) Is
hybridization occurring between Anguispira species, as proposed by Hubricht? (4) Are some species
with highly restricted geographic ranges simply unique shell morphs of other, more broadly
distributed species? To investigate Anguispira phylogeny, regions of the mitochondrial cytochrome
oxidase subunit I (COI), 16s ribosomal RNA, and cytochrome b genes have been sequenced from
eighty individuals representing eleven putative Anguispira species, with two Discus species and one
Helicodiscus species used as outgroups. Preliminary analyses suggest that (1) A. nimapuna is sister to
all other Angiuspira species (2) Several broadly distributed species (e.g., A. alternata) appear to be
polyphyletic, and (3) although most species appear to be monophyletic, relationships among species
remain poorly resolved. Morphometric data and (if possible) sequence data from a nuclear locus will
be combined with the mitochondrial data to delimit species and clarify relationships within this
group.
Marine and brackish water phylogeography of southeastern Australian Mollusca
Colgan, D.J. 1 ; da Costa, P. 1 ; Reutelshöfer, T. 1 ; Golding, R.E. 2
1 Research Branch, The Australian Museum, 6 College St., Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia,
Email: don.colgan@austmus.gov.au; pam.dacosta@austmus.gov.au; tina_reutelshoefer@yahoo.de
2. Dept. of Anatomy and Histology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia,
Email: rgol8300@anatomy.usyd.edu.au
Each of the few phylogeographic studies of southeastern Australian marine and brackish water
environments has revealed further complexity. The complexity is likely due to the interaction of
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