Threatened Neotropical mollusks: Analysis of shape differences in three endemic snails from High Paraná River by geometric morphometrics

Abstract

Variation in shape among a living and 2 extinct aquatic snails of the genus Aylacostoma, using a geometric morphometric method of thin plate splines and multivariate analysis was investigated. The analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic capability of this method and to explore shell shape differences, due to the lack of other data, in an attempt to answer why only 1 of the species persisted in the wild. Sixteen landmarks in a bi-dimensional space for 32 shells of type, paratype and reference specimens deposited in museums of Argentina were defined. Analysis was successful in assigning individual specimens to particular species. Statistically significant differences in last whorl, aperture, and spire were found for the first 4 non-uniform components explaining an 85% of local variation observed. Differences could be related to a differential use of habitat and/or to the degree of exposure to water current. More globose shell found in the extinct species could be associated to habitats and substrata with the highest water currents, whereas the more stylized shell in the third species could be related to a preference for more protected habitats, like those where it presently occurs.