- NOTEAsiatic Clam, Corbicula fIuminea, in Northwestern Patagonia (Argentina)

ABSTRACT

The invasive Asiatic clam, Corbicula fluminea (Mller, 1778), is reported from the Negro River, at Chimpay, in the Patagonian shrubland. The invasion seems to have occurred in 1997-1998, as revealed by its absence in the field assessments made up to Januaty 1997 and the presence of a layer of Corbicula empty shells in the dry sand banks left by the flood of the river in winter 1998. When the introduced Asiatic claros were found in the Colorado River (Argentina), this location was deemed to be on the southernmost latitude the species could reach due to cold constraint (Cazzaniga 1997). This statement left open the possibility that the claros colonized the Patagonian zoogeographical realm (Ringuelet 1961) to the West, on the upper part of the Negro River. This proved to be true with the fmding of Corbiculafluminea (Mller, 1778) at Chimpay (Ro Negro Province, 39 10' S-66 10'W), where it probably entered during 1997. One of us (CP) regularly does field work in the Chimpay area during summers (except 1998). No live Asiatic claros were observed there until January 14, 1999, when the first samples were found. It is worth noting that in Januaty 1997 the Negro River was canoed from Chimpay to Viedma (a distance of about 550 km), and nearly every 25 to 50 km a survey was made by digging the coastal sand and by skin-diving. Although many samples were obtained, no Corbicula fluminea was found in that caropaign. Notwithstanding, a flood in July 1998 (winter) left some sand banks with an abundance of Corbiculafluminea shells; thus a dense population of the Asiatic claro had developed there, probably' during the summertime of 1997-1998 (December-March). At present, populations of Asiatic claros are quite abundant in two small strearos flowing to the Negro River, 5 km from each other, near the town of Chimpay. Claros were also collected in the Negro River itself, in a public bath site 6 km to the east of Chimpay. Since this part of the river is not navigable, the claro was not introduced accidentally va water ballast (Ituarte 1994) but more likely was introduced by the fishermen who used the claro as bait. Voucher specimens from Chimpay were deposited at Museo de La Plata (Argentina) (25 alcohol preserved claros; collection number 5430). Their measures are summarized in Table 1.

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Joumal 01 Freshwater Ecology, Volume 14, Number 4 . December 1999

Table 1. Measurements of the voucher specimens of Corbiculafluminea from Chimpay (Argentina). N = 25 Mean Standard dev. Maximum Minimum
LITERATURE CITED

Lengthj Width 1.62 0.04 1.74 1.52

Cazzaniga, N. J. 1997. Asiatic clam, Corbicula fluminea, reaching Patagonia (Argentina). Joumal of Freshwater Ecology 12 (4):629-630. Ituarte, C. 1994. Corbicula and Neocorbicula (Bivalvia: Corbiculidae) in the Paran, Uruguay, and Ro de la Plata Basins. Nautilus 107 (4):129135. Ringuelet, R. A. 1961. Rasgos fundamentales de la zoogeografia de la Argentina. Physis 22:151-170. Nstor J. Cazzaniga and Cristian Prez
Universidad Nacional del Sur Departamento de Biologa, Bioqumica y Farmacia 8000 Baha Blanca, Argentina

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Received: 6 May 1999

Accepted: 27 September 1999