World Congress of Malacology Antwerp ... - Unitas Malacologica

Isolated oceanic islands are excellent natural laboratories to test the relative role of historical
contingency in evolutionary diversification. Here, we reconstruct phylogenetic relationships among
species of the marine venomous gastropod genus Conus from the Cape Verde archipelago. This small
island chain located in the Central Atlantic hosts 10% of the worldwide species diversity of Conus.
According to the reconstructed phylogeny, endemics of Conus in the Cape Verde archipelago were
originated from at least two independent colonization events. The first colonization in the Miocene
led to the diversification of “small” shelled Conus whereas in the Pliocene the ancestor of “large”
shelled Conus arrived to the islands. The “large” shelled Conus remarkably replicated the
biogeographic diversification patterns of “small” shelled Conus but 12 million years later. Similar
selective forces (e.g. both taxa have nonplanktonic lecithotrophic larvae with limited dispersal
capacity that impose diversification in allopatry) together with repeated instances of low sea level
stands during glacial maxima (at 16 and 3.8 million years ago, respectively), which allowed
connection between islands, have overcome the potential effect of historical contingency, and explain
the observed similar evolutionary outcomes.
Freshwater molluscs threat assessments in Africa
Cuttelod, Annabelle 1 ; Seddon, Mary 2 ; Darwall, Will 3 ; Smith, Kevin
With contributions from other members of IUCN Mollusc Specialist Group especially the
regional coordinators: Dirk van Damme, Thomas Kristiansen, Charles Lange.
1. Mediterranean Red List Coordinator, IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, Parque
Tecnológico de Andalucía, Calle Marie Curie 35, Campañillas 29590, Málaga, Spain,
Email: annabelle.cuttelod@iucn.org
2. Dept. Biodiversity & Systematic Biology, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff, UK,
CF10 3NP,
Email: Mary.Seddon@museumwales.ac.uk
3. Freshwater Biodiversity Unit Coordinator, IUCN Species Programme-UK Office, 219c
Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 ODL, UK,
Email: will.darwall@ssc-uk.org
The Pan Africa Biodiversity Assessment is a four-year project (2005-2009) involving assessments
and mapping for approximately 6,000 freshwater species from six taxonomic groups: molluscs,
fishes, odonates, aquatic plants, wetland birds, and crabs.
A regional approach is being used:
Eastern Africa: the pilot study for the project was completed in 2005. The overview showed that 23%
of all molluscs were threatened with extinction, but a further 28% were Data D eficient.
Southern Africa: the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) is leading this
assessment, and the endemic species will be added to the Global Red List in October 2007.
Western Africa: Wetlands International is coordinating the assessment, and the Mollusc reports are
currently being prepared by Thomas Kristiansen.
Northern Africa Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment: is led by the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean
Cooperation. The first assessments were undertaken by Dirk van Damme in May 2007.
Further species assessments will be needed to cover those areas such as the Congo Basin and NE
Africa which are outside the regional assessments.
The final year of the Pan Africa Biodiversity Assessment will be spent aggregating the separate
regional datasets in order to do a final regional assessment for the African continent.
The species data is being gathered using standardised software based on Microsoft Access, so that
entry conforms to the documentation standards required by the IUCN Red List. A demonstration and
training session will be held on Saturday 21st July where copies of the software will be available.
The poster will present an overview of the results for East Africa, South Africa and West Africa,
showing areas of high species richness and areas with high numbers of threatened species. We will
comment on the main threats to Molluscs and overall patterms emerging from the programme.
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