Data Paper |
Corresponding author: Sebastián Rosenfeld ( rosenfeld.sebastian@yahoo.com ) Academic editor: Frank Köhler
© 2022 Sebastián Rosenfeld, Claudia S. Maturana, Hamish G. Spencer, Peter Convey, Thomas Saucède, Paul Brickle, Francisco Bahamonde, Quentin Jossart, Elie Poulin, Claudio Gonzalez-Wevar.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Rosenfeld S, Maturana CS, Spencer HG, Convey P, Saucède T, Brickle P, Bahamonde F, Jossart Q, Poulin E, Gonzalez-Wevar C (2022) Complete distribution of the genus Laevilitorina (Littorinimorpha, Littorinidae) in the Southern Hemisphere: remarks and natural history. ZooKeys 1127: 61-77. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1127.91310
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Littorinid snails are present in most coastal areas globally, playing a significant role in the ecology of intertidal communities. Laevilitorina is a marine gastropod genus distributed exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, with 21 species reported from South America, the sub-Antarctic islands, Antarctica, New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania. Here, an updated database of 21 species generated from a combination of sources is presented: 1) new field sampling data; 2) published records; 3) the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), to provide a comprehensive description of the known geographic distribution of the genus and detailed occurrences for each of the 21 species. The database includes 813 records (occurrences), 53 from field sampling, 174 from the literature, 128 from GBIF, and 458 from ALA. West Antarctica had the highest species richness (8 species), followed by sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand (4 species) and the south-east shelf of Australia (4 species). The provinces of Magellan, New Zealand South Island, and sub-Antarctic Islands of the Indian Ocean include two species each. This study specifically highlights reports of L. pygmaea and L. venusta, species that have been almost unrecorded since their description. Recent advances in molecular studies of L. caliginosa showed that this species does not correspond to a widely distributed taxon, but to multiple divergent lineages distributed throughout the Southern Ocean. Ongoing molecular and taxonomic studies are necessary for a better understanding of the diversity and biogeography of this genus.
Antarctic, endemism, Laevilitorininae, sub-Antarctic
One of the most common challenges facing studies or the construction of inventories of biodiversity is the absence of detailed information on the distribution of taxa throughout the different geographical regions of the planet. Furthermore, species distribution data are usually scattered across different sources of information such as taxonomic reviews, species lists, reports and natural history collections (
The family Littorinidae represents one of the most conspicuous and abundant components of intertidal communities that inhabit rocky shores across the world’s coasts (
Laevilitorina Pfeffer, 1886 is the most widely distributed genus of marine gastropods present at high latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere (
The present study documents the state of knowledge of the genus and provides an updated database, using a combination of recent sampling data, published records available in the literature, and available information from GBIF and other repositories. The objectives of the study are: i) to report new records of Laevilitorina species present in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic environments and ii) to evaluate the distribution and richness of Laevilitorina species throughout the Southern Hemisphere, using an updated database. The updated database will serve as a basis for future comprehensive systematic research on the genus, including the application of molecular phylogenetic approaches to help infer its regional evolutionary history.
Laevilitorina records across the Southern Hemisphere were compiled from four main sources: 1) field sampling data; 2) published literature; 3) data already present in GBIF and 4) the data present in the repository of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) (
Twelve marine biogeographical provinces in the Southern Hemisphere were considered for the purpose of our geospatial analyses, including the Magellan province (southern South America and Falkland / Malvinas Islands), West Antarctic, East Antarctica, Indian Ocean sub-Antarctic islands (Prince Edward Islands, Crozet Island, Kerguelen and Heard Islands), Macquarie Island, New Zealand sub-Antarctic islands, Southern New Zealand, Northern New Zealand, South-east Australian Shelf, South-west Australian Shelf, West Central Australian Shelf and East Central Australian Shelf, as defined in
New material was collected from multiple locations in southern South America between the Strait of Magellan (53°36'S, 70°55'W) and the Diego Ramirez archipelago (56°31.345'S, 68°43.622'W). In the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, specimens were collected from the intertidal zone of Hooker Point (51°42'S, 57°46'W). New Antarctic material was collected from the South Shetland Islands, Doumer Island, Palmer Land, and Avian Island under the framework of
Antarctic Scientific Expeditions (ECA) 49, 53, 54 and 58 of the
Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH). Samples from the South Orkney Islands and South Georgia were obtained during
BBritish Antarctic Survey (
Samples were collected using two methods: 1) manual collection in the intertidal zone, with littorinids being sampled individually, and 2) SCUBA diving between 1 and 15 m depth, where substrates (e.g. sediments, macroalgae) were collected. Rock substrates were subsequently scraped to ensure that all species and specimens were collected. Each macroalga sample was placed in a plastic bag. After collection, specimens were kept alive and transported onboard or to the research station. Each sample was then gently agitated to detach the associated fauna. All Laevilitorina samples were immediately preserved in ethanol (95%) to be transported to the laboratory. Geographic coordinates were recorded using GPS for each sample location.
Morphological observations were performed under an OLYMPUS stereomicroscope CX31. The following morphological measurements were taken, following
To ensure maximum coverage of the generated dataset, information was gathered from all available scientific publications that have sampled or reviewed Laevilitorina species throughout the genus’ distribution, from the description of the first species (
All georeferenced records of the genus Laevilitorina were retrieved from the GBIF and ALA database on 12 September 2022 (
The complete database (https://www.gbif.org/dataset/cd023c5e-8729-41b2-b9df-1419289c0e40) includes 813 records. Most records (458) were obtained from the ALA repository, followed by literature (174) obtained from 63 reviewed articles, GBIF (128), and new sampling records (53).
Laevilitorina antarctica (Smith, 1902), originally described from Cape Adare in the Ross Sea, is also reported in GBIF from Macquarie Island (https://www.gbif.org/es/occurrence/search?taxon_key=9810991). However, this species has historically been reported primarily from the biogeographic provinces of East Antarctica and West Antarctica (
This study includes the first record of the species Laevilitorina delli Powell, 1955, in GBIF database, previously described by
All newly collected Laevilitorina specimens identified in this study showed morphological characteristics corresponding to those described in the literature (Fig.
A total of 21 species of Laevilitorina were recorded in the Southern Hemisphere; West Antarctica was the province with the highest species richness (S = 8, Fig.
a Delimitation of Antarctic and Southern Ocean marine biogeographic provinces according to
Within the West Antarctic province eight species were reported, of which L. venusta and Laevilitorina granum Pfeffer, 1886 were recorded exclusively from South Georgia (Fig.
The distributions of the 21 different Laevilitorina species in the Southern Hemisphere. The colours below each panel indicate the geographic distribution of each species. Drawings of each species were made from holotypes or from illustrations made in published revisions (
Only two species were recorded from the main New Zealand islands, L. alta (Powell, 1940) from North Island and L. delli from South Island. Three species were reported from Campbell, Antipodes and Auckland Islands, L. aucklandica (Powell, 1930), L. bifasciata Suter, 1913 and L. antipodum (Filhol 1880), none of which were shared with the North and South Islands of New Zealand (Fig.
Based on our new sampling data only, we identified and reported seven Laevilitorina species in the Magellanic Province (L. caliginosa), Falkland/Malvinas Islands (L. caliginosa, L. latior), South Georgia (L. caliginosa, L. pygmaea, L. venusta; Fig.
The increasing application of integrated taxonomy coupled with new modelling approaches, requires data to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable in the long term (
The compilation and unification of records of Laevilitorina in the Southern Hemisphere presented here contributes to improve our knowledge of the diversity and biogeography of the members of the genus in twelve biogeographic provinces of the Southern Hemisphere. However, it is also important to note that, despite the unification and update of records of Laevilitorina, this study does not reflect the full systematic and biogeographic complexity of this genus. Distribution data are not currently available for many members of the genus, which have not been reported since their description. For example, among the five species of Laevilitorina described from South Georgia, three of them (L. pygmaea, L. venusta, and L. granum) have not been reported since their original description (
In this study, the report of L. pygmaea is only the third record of the species, in addition to being the first record from shallow depths thereby extending our knowledge of its bathymetric range. Previously, L. pygmaea had been reported between 252 and 310 m depth (
Taxonomic uncertainties within the genus Laevilitorina are related both to the morphological plasticity that exists in at least some species (
Historically, because of the complexity of obtaining material due to the wide distribution of Laevilitorina, taxonomic revisions have been restricted to certain geographic areas (e.g.,
Laevilitorina is one of the most widely distributed genera of marine gastropods at high latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere (
a Life cycle of members of the genus Laevilitorina without a planktotrophic larval stage, i) general view of the egg mass with early-stage embryos, ii) late-stage embryos, iii) recently hatched juveniles, iv) developing adult, and v) male and female of the genus (photographs S. Rosenfeld) b Latitudinal distribution of Laevilitorina species in the Southern Hemisphere, grey bars indicate presence in a single geographic area or island.
The majority of Laevilitorina species inhabit shallow rocky coasts and may be associated with different species of macroalgae (
This study shows a detailed review of the records, distribution and richness patterns of the genus Laevilitorina throughout its range. However, more research and sampling effort is still needed to “recover” and confirm many of the Laevilitorina species that are present throughout the sub-Antarctic Islands. In addition, based on the results of
This work was funded by, ANID-Millennium Science Initiative Program ICN2021_002 to SR, CM, PC, EP, and CGW, Fondecyt Regular Project 1210787 to CGW and SR, and ANID/BASAL FB210018 to SR and CM. We also appreciate the support of the following projects: Fondecyt Postdoctoral 3210063 to CM, IPEV program PROTEKER (#1044). We are grateful to the Government of South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI), South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI), Natural History Museum (NHM) London, the Shallow Marine Surveys Group (SMSG) for organising the research cruise (Operation Himantothallus – Darwin Plus Marine Biodiversity Research Cruise, Pharos SG-11-2021), and Tritonia Scientific Ltd for diving operations and dive safety. The research cruise was funded by GSGSSI and a Darwin Plus Grant (DPLUS122) to the NHM. We also are grateful to the officers and crew of the Pharos SG for their professionalism and support. S.R. gives particular thanks to the Chilean Navy, the Commander in Chief of the III Naval Zone, Rear Admiral Ivo Brito, the Chief of General Staff, Vice Admiral José Miguel Rivera, the National Oceanographic Committee, and the Naval Beagle Command, as well as the crew of the ship OPV 83 Marinero Fuentealba, and the helicopter and institutional logistics personnel. We also thank Roy Mackenzie and the staff of the lighthouse of Gonzalo Island for their invaluable support for the development of field research at the permanent ecological studies site implemented in the Diego Ramírez archipelago and Hornos Island. We especially thank Lafayette Eaton for English revision and editing and to the Subject editor Frank Köhler and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.