Morphometry of the invasive Pomacea spp (Gastropoda: Ampullariidae) from rice fields of Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Morphometry is one of the methods that can be useful in establishing taxon identity. Morphometrics of Pomacea spp in paddy fields of Peninsular Malaysia has not been studied, hence, poorly understood. Morphometric measurement were carried out on shell and operculum characters for six populations of Pomacea spp from paddy fields of peninsula Malaysia to assess ecotype disparity for those characters among the different populations. Results revealed that significant disparity with respect to the assessed characters exists among the populations from different rice ecologies sampled. The highest value for shell length, body whorl height, spire height, aperture length, Aperture width, operculum length and Operculum width were recorded in the Tanjung Karang (Selongor) sampling locality. While the least value for most of these morphometric character were recorded from Tanjung Piandang locality (Perak). It could be concluded that the morphometric characters measured vary independently among the populations measured and is predicted among others factors to be governed by intensity of paddy cultivations rather than geographical gradients. The implications of this finding especially with respect to their management as pest of paddy were discussed.