Red-rimmed melania

The red-rimmed melania (Melanoides tuberculata), also known as the Malayan livebearing snail or Malayan/Malaysian trumpet snail (often abbreviated to MTS by aquarists), is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, a parthenogenetic, aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Thiaridae.

The common name comes from the presence of reddish spots on their otherwise greenish-brown shells.

The species name is sometimes spelled M. tuberculatus, but this is incorrect because Melanoides Olivier, 1804 was clearly intended to be feminine because it was combined with the feminine specific epithet fasciolata in the original description.

This species is native to northern Africa and southern Asia, but it has been accidentally introduced in many other tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. It has also been accidentally introduced to heated aquaria in colder parts of the world.

Subspecies

Ã¢ÂÂ M. t. dadiana (Oppenheim, 1919)
Ã¢ÂÂ M. t. monolithica (Bukowski, 1892)
Ã¢ÂÂ M. t. tegalensis (Oostingh, 1935)
M. t. tuberculata (O. F. MÃÂ¼ller, 1774)

Shell description

This species has an elongated, conical shell, which is usually light brown, marked with rust-colored spots. An operculum is present. In some places, such as in Israel, the shells are colored in black or dark brown, probably to help conceal the snail on the background of the basalt rocks of the Sea of Galilee (Kinnereth).

The average shell length is about or , but exceptional specimens may be up to long. Shells of this species have 10Ã¢ÂÂ15 whorls.

Distribution

This species is speculated to be native to subtropical and tropical Africa (excluding West Africa), Indo-Pacific region, and South Asia, as well as the Arabian Peninsula, or to northern Africa and southern Asia.

In Africa:

Algeria, Burundi, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger,
South Africa (Eastern Cape Province, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo Province)
Botswana, Eswatini, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zimbabwe.

In Asia:

Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India (including Andaman Islands), Israel, Japan, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia), Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam
Thailand

Prehistoric localities include Gobero in Niger in 6200Ã¢ÂÂ5200 BCE.

Nonindigenous distribution

Cuba
United States since the 1930s (see below)
Latin America in the late 1960s
Brazil Ã¢ÂÂ since 1967 (Ilha Grande in Rio de Janeiro in southeastern Brazil since 2004)
Netherlands Ã¢ÂÂ before 1990
New Zealand
Venezuela

Dominica
Trinidad
and others

This species can also be found in artificially heated, indoor habitats, such as aquaria, in greenhouses, and similar biotopes:

Czech Republic
Germany
Great Britain
Slovakia Ã¢ÂÂ thermal brook in the wild
Greece before 2026

Nonindigenous distribution in the United States

This species has become established outside of its natural range in large part through the activities of aquarists. These snails were imported to the United States by the aquarium trade as early as the 1930s. Established populations exist from Florida to Texas, and the species may still be expanding its range in the West and Northeast. Some of these exotic populations have become very large, with densities of being reported from the St. Johns River in Florida. In some cases red-rimmed melanias are believed to have a negative impact on native snail populations.

The nonindigenous distribution includes the United States: Arizona; San Francisco Bay, California; Colorado; Florida; HawaiÃÂ»i; Louisiana; Montana; North Carolina; Nevada; Oregon; Utah; Texas, and Fall River County in South Dakota, (unconfirmed in Virginia, and Wyoming.)

Ecology

This is primarily a burrowing species that tends to be most active at night.

Habitat

Although normally a freshwater snail, this species is very tolerant of brackish water, and has been recorded in waters with a salinity of 32.5 ppt (1,024 specific gravity salinity).

It is, though, a warm-climate species. It appears to prefer a temperature range of or . Research has been conducted to determine the snail's lethal high water temperature, which is about . This information is helpful in the disinfection of fishing gear and research equipment, which otherwise may inadvertently spread the snails to uninfested waters.

This species is resistant to low oxygen levels. Its pollution tolerance value is 3 (on scale 0Ã¢ÂÂ10; 0 is the best water quality, 10 is the worst water quality).

Feeding habits

This snail feeds primarily on algae (microalgae) and detritus.

Lifecycle

Red-rimmed melania females are both parthenogenic and ovoviviparous. Females can be recognized by their greenish-coloured gonads, while males have reddish gonads. The males are rare, making up for 10 to 33% of population. Under good conditions, females produce fertilised eggs that are transferred to a brood pouch, where they remain until they hatch (parthenogenesis and viviparity). Melanoides tuberculata has 1Ã¢ÂÂ64 embryos in its brood pouch. Snails will begin reproducing at a size as small as or in length and broods may contain over 70 offspring (iteroparity). The size of the shell of the parent at peak release of juveniles is . The size of juveniles at birth is .

Melanoides tuberculata grows to a similar size as Tarebia granifera, and is similar in size at first birth and juvenile output.

It is a r-strategist species.

Parasites

Melanoides tuberculata is known to carry certain parasites, which can be dangerous to humans. Pinto & de Melo (2011) compiled a checklist of 37 species of trematode parasites from this species of snail. Eleven of those trematodes are also parasites of human. These snails serve as first intermediate host for parasites which include:

Clonorchis sinensis Ã¢ÂÂ Chinese liver fluke
Centrocestus formosanus
Paragonimus westermani Ã¢ÂÂ Oriental lung fluke
Paragonimus kellicotti
Angiostrongylus cantonensis
Loxogenoides bicolor
Transversotrema laruei
Sticiodora tridactyl
Gastrodiscus aegyptiacus
Philophthalmus gralli
Philophthalmus distomatosa
Haplorchis pumilio
Haplorchis sp.
Metagonimus
Diorchitrema formosanum
unknown species in Schistosomatidae

This species is a host for a trematode parasite that has been found to infect an endangered species of fish in Texas, the fountain darter.

Agricultural pests

Red-rimmed melania can sometimes be an agricultural pest species, as has been reported on Chinese cabbage plantations in Hong Kong.

Aquaria

Red-rimmed melania are quite commonly found in freshwater aquaria, but opinion in the hobby is divided between those who see them as a pest species and those who value their usefulness as algae eaters and substrate cleaners.

Synonyms

Malanoides tuberculata [sic] misspelling
Melania (Melanoides) tuberculata (O. F. MÃÂ¼ller, 1774) ÃÂ· alternate representation
Melania (Stenomelania) rustica Mousson, 1857 junior subjective synonym
Melania (Striatella) tuberculata (O. F. MÃÂ¼ller, 1774) ÃÂ· alternate representation
Melania (Striatella) tuberculata var. flavida G. Nevill, 1885 junior subjective synonym
Melania (Striatella) tuberculata var. luteomarginata G. Nevill, 1885 junior subjective synonym
Ã¢ÂÂ Melania (Striatella) woodwardi K. Martin, 1905 junior subjective synonym
Melania baldwini Ancey, 1899 junior subjective synonym
Melania beryllina Brot, 1860 junior subjective synonym
Melania cancellata Say, 1829 junior subjective synonym
Melania commersoni Morelet, 1860 junior subjective synonym
Ã¢ÂÂ Melania distinguenda Brot, 1876 junior subjective synonym
Melania dominula Tapparone Canefri, 1883 junior subjective synonym
Melania exusta Reeve, 1859 junior subjective synonym
Melania flammigera Dunker, 1844 junior subjective synonym
Melania floricoma Reeve, 1859 junior subjective synonym
Melania flyensis Tapparone Canefri, 1883 junior subjective synonym
Melania gracilina A. Gould, 1859 junior subjective synonym
Melania inhambanica E. von Martens, 1860 junior subjective synonym
Melania javanica Brot, 1877 junior subjective synonym
Melania judaica J. R. Roth, 1855 junior subjective synonym
Melania layardi Dohrn, 1858 junior subjective synonym
Melania lentiginosa var. nymphula Westerlund, 1883 junior subjective synonym
Melania malayana Brot, 1877 junior subjective synonym
Melania mauriciae Lesson, 1831 junior subjective synonym
Melania moesta Hinds, 1844junior subjective synonym
Melania nicobarica Tapparone Canefri, 1883 junior subjective synonym
Melania ornata von dem Busch, 1842 junior homonym (invalid, not Michaud, 1828)
Melania pellicens Tapparone Canefri, 1883 junior subjective synonym
Melania punctulata Reeve, 1859 junior subjective synonym
Melania pyramis Benson, 1836 junior subjective synonym
Melania rivularis Philippi, 1847 junior subjective synonym
Melania rodericensis E. A. Smith, 1876 junior subjective synonym
Melania rothiana Mousson, 1861 junior subjective synonym
Melania rubropunctata Tristram, 1865 junior subjective synonym
Melania scalariformis Tenison Woods, 1879 junior subjective synonym
Melania singularis Tapparone Canefri, 1877 junior subjective synonym
Melania suturalis Philippi, 1847 junior subjective synonym
Melania tamsii Dunker, 1845 junior subjective synonym
Melania terebra Lesson, 1831 junior subjective synonym
Melania tigrina T. Hutton, 1849 junior subjective synonym
Melania timorensis Reeve, 1859 junior subjective synonym (suspected synonym)
Melania trunculata Lamarck, 1822 junior subjective synonym
Melania tuberculata (O. F. MÃÂ¼ller, 1774) superseded combination
Melania tuberculata var. angularis E. von Martens, 1897 junior subjective synonym (suspected synonym)
Melania tuberculata var. malayana Issel, 1874 junior subjective synonym
Melania tuberculata var. seminuda E. von Martens, 1897 junior subjective synonym (suspected synonym)
Melania tuberculata var. victoriae Dautzenberg, 1908 junior homonym (invalid: preoccupied by Melania victoriae Dohrn, 1865)
Melania turriculus I. Lea & H. C. Lea, 1851 junior subjective synonym
Melania virgula Quoy & Gaimard, 1834 junior subjective synonym
Melania waigiensis Brot, 1874 junior subjective synonym
Melania wilkinsonii Tenison Woods, 1879 junior subjective synonym
Melania zengana Morelet, 1860 junior subjective synonym
Melanoides (Melanoides) tuberculata (O. F. MÃÂ¼ller, 1774) ÃÂ· alternate representation
Melanoides fasciolata Olivier, 1804 junior subjective synonym
Melanoides flavidus (G. Nevill, 1885) junior subjective synonym
Melanoides pyramis (Benson, 1836) junior subjective synonym
Melanoides pyramis var. flavida (G. Nevill, 1885) junior subjective synonym
Melanoides pyramis var. leopardina Annandale & Prashad, 1919 junior subjective synonym
Melanoides pyramis var. luteomarginata (G. Nevill, 1885) ÃÂ· junior subjective synonym
Melanoides pyramis var. puteicola Annandale & Prashad, 1919 junior subjective synonym
Melanoides terebra (Lesson, 1831) junior subjective synonym
Melanoides tigrina (T. Hutton, 1850) junior subjective synonym
Melanoides tuberculata var. dautzenbergi Pilsbry & Bequaert, 1927 junior subjective synonym (replacement name for Melania tuberculata var. victoriae Dautzenberg, 1908)
Melanoides tuberculatus (O. F. MÃÂ¼ller, 1774) incorrect grammatical agreement of specific epithet
Nerita tuberculata O. F. MÃÂ¼ller, 1774 superseded combination
Striatella tuberculata (O. F. MÃÂ¼ller, 1774) superseded combination (Striatella is a junior synonym of...)
Thiara baldwini (Ancey, 1899) junior subjective synonym
Thiara rodericensis (E. A. Smith, 1876) junior subjective synonym
Thiara tuberculata (O. F. MÃÂ¼ller, 1774) superseded combination
Turritella tuberculata Link, 1807 superseded combination
Turritella turricula Link, 1807 junior subjective synonym

References

This article incorporates public domain text from references

External links