To date, the impact of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina has been quite significant in terms of social activity, but more specifically in terms of scientific field research (because of the absence of collection permits, the restrictions on circulation, the closure of laboratories, border controls and social distancing, among other issues). Completion of research by the present authors on issues related to the conservation and distribution of gastropods and freshwater bivalves from Argentina, for example by Torres & Darrigran (2019) and de Lucía & Gutiérrez Gregoric (2020), has been delayed because of laboratories being closed or field work not being possible. Even though the quality of the thesis work of these doctoral students (de Lucía, Torres), and of other students and researchers, has not diminished, its completion has been held back.Fil: Gutierrez Gregoric, Diego Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: de Lucia, Micaela. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Invertebrados; ArgentinaFil: Torres, Santiago Hernan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Santa Cruz. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Cruz. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Santa Cruz. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Santa Cruz; ArgentinaFil: Darrigran, Gustavo Alberto. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentin

Darrigran, Gustavo Alberto

de Lucia, Micaela

Gutierrez Gregoric, Diego Eduardo

Torres, Santiago Hernan

English

CONICET Digital

ISSN 0958-5079  Tentacle No. 29—March 2021                  24  imperiled species that include molluscs. Tentacle 28: 10-11. Le, A.M & Waterstrat, F.T. 2019. Species Status Assessment for the Puget Oregonian (Cryptomastix devia). Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington State Field Office, Lacey, Washington. 56 p., appendices. Pfeiffer, L. 1850. Descriptions of twenty-four new species of Helicea, from the collection of H. Cuming, Esq. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1849 [= part 17]: 126-131. Taylor, G.W. 1889. The land snails of Vancouver Island. The Ottawa Naturalist 3: 84–94.  USDA & USDI. 1994. Record of decision for amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management planning documents within the range of the Northern Spotted Owl. Standards and guidelines for management of habitat for late-successional and old-growth forest related species within the range of the Northern Spotted Owl. U.S. Forest Service, Portland, Oregon. ii + 74, viii + 144 p. USFWS. 2011. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; 90- day finding on a petition to list 29 mollusk species as threatened or endangered with critical habitat. Federal Register 76: 61826-61853. USFWS. 2020. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; Eleven species not warranted for listing as Endangered or Threatened Species. Federal Register 85: 78029-78038.         Edward J. Johannes, Deixis Consultants, 16827 51st Avenue South, SeaTac, Washington 98188-3245, USA. deixisconsultants@gmail.com   PANDEMIC AND CONSERVATION OF FRESHWATER MOLLUSCS IN ARGENTINA  By Diego E. Gutiérrez Gregoric, Micaela de Lucía, Santiago Torres & Gustavo Darrigran  To date, the impact of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina has been quite significant in terms of social activity, but more specifically in terms of scientific field research (because of the absence of collection permits, the restrictions on circulation, the closure of laboratories, border controls and social distancing, among other issues). Completion of research by the present authors on issues related to the conservation and distribution of gastropods and freshwater bivalves from Argentina, for example by Torres & Darrigran (2019) and de Lucía & Gutiérrez Gregoric (2020), has been delayed because of laboratories being closed or field work not being possible. Even though the quality of the thesis work of these doctoral students (de Lucía, Torres), and of other students and researchers, has not diminished, its completion has been held back.  Regarding conservation of the freshwater mollusc fauna of Argentina, there is a relatively high species richness of around 168 species (Rumi et al., 2006, 2008; Núñez et al., 2010) but there are also considerable information and resources gaps when it comes to the study of freshwater molluscs, both native and non-native, the latter also being a threat to native biodiversity (Darrigran et al., 2020). For conservation management, it is necessary to generate an update of the current diversity of freshwater molluscs in Argentina in particular and in South America in general. For this purpose, we have taken up the challenge of generating an update of the distributions of the freshwater mollusc taxa of Argentina, as well as their conservation status according to criterion B of regional distribution according to the IUCN (2012).  The latest overall study of freshwater gastropods of Argentina (Núñez et al., 2010) counted 103 available species, of which 40 were considered vulnerable. However, in this study, the IUCN criteria were not used to determine their status. The IUCN, for Argentina, published evaluations in 2010/2011 (in which G. D. participated) using the official IUCN categories: Critically Endangered-CR, Endangered-EN, Vulnerable-VU, Near Threatened-NT and Least Concern-LC.  Due to the closure of laboratories and the necessity of working from a home office, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the databases of freshwater molluscs have been updated, based on records in malacological collections, that is, analysis of new pre-pandemic collections, as well as publications since 2008 and 2010, when the latest updates had been made for bivalves and gastropods, by Rumi et al. (2008) and Núñez et al. (2010), respectively.  To date, we have finished updating both the list of species, as well as the records for bivalves. For gastropods, the list of species has been fully updated, but the list of records has only been partially updated. For the completed databases, the GEOCat software applied by IUCN has been used to estimate the Extent of Occurrence (EOO) and Area of Occupation (AOO) of each of the species, and thus to determine the level of vulnerability (Bachman et al., 2011).  As a result of this update, we estimate that in Argentina there are 68 species of bivalves (63 natives, three non-natives, two possible synonyms of other species) and 117 gastropods (106 natives, six non-natives, three possible synonyms of other species). Thus the numbers of recorded freshwater mollusc species in Argentina appears to have increased in recent years, rising from 168 to 185.  For bivalves, the database used by Rumi et al. (2008), included 2,100 geo-referenced records, and as a result of the present update, 3,200 geo-referenced records have been obtained (Fig. 1). Of the 63 native species, 56 of them have been evaluated (species with just one or two records have been omitted). Considering the AOO, all species in Argentina are, at least, Endangered (EN), whereas some are Critically Endangered (CR). Regarding the EOO, some species are considered threatened, for now, potentially CR (8 species), EN (7), VU (4) species; others are assessed as NT (5) and LC (32).  Regarding gastropods, the database used by Núñez et al. (2010) included ~ 4,000 geo-referenced records, and so far we have been able to increase this to 5,000 records. Within this group, the database of the Chilinidae (Fig. 2) is fully updated, with 670 records and 24 species (seven species with one or two records). As for bivalves, all Chilinidae species may be EN, according to the AOO. Regarding the EOO, some species are considered threatened, for now, potentially CR (2 species), EN (1), VU (3); others are assessed as NT (2) and LC (9).  Once all the databases have been updated, our next step is to analyse the threats to each species to evaluate their final ISSN 0958-5079  Tentacle No. 29—March 2021                  25      conservation status. In addition, we aim to analyse how the distribution of freshwater molluscs is related to protected areas. In this sense, the work of Torres et al. (2018), which showed that fewer than 14% of the Argentinean protected areas have records of Unionida and only 9% have records of four or more species, may serve as a useful precedent.  This work was supported by Programa Incentivos 11 N870 (D.G.G. & M.d.L.), 11/N927 (G.D.) and 11/ H949 (G.D.). We thank María Fernanda Jaime, translator of the Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas of the Provincia de Buenos Aires (CIC), for reviewing and editing the final version of the manuscript.  Darrigran, D., Agudo-Padrón, I, Baez, P., Belz, C., Cardoso, F., Carranza, A., Collado, G., Correoso, M., Cuezzo, M.G., Fabres, A., Gutiérrez Gregoric, D.E., Letelier, S., Ludwig, S., Mansur, M.C., Pastorino, G., Penchaszadeh, P., Peralta, C., Rebolledo, A., Rumi, A., Santos, S., Thiengo, S., Vidigal, T. & Damborenea, C. 2020. Non-native mollusks throughout South America: emergent patterns in an understudied continent. Biological Invasions 22(3): 853-871.  Bachman, S., Moat, J., Hill, A.W., de la Torre, J. & Scott, B. 2011. Supporting Red List threat assessments with GeoCAT: geospatial conservation assessment tool. In: e-Infrastructures for data publishing in biodiversity science (Smith, V. & Penev, L., eds.) ZooKeys 150: 117-126. (Version BETA). de Lucía, M. & Gutiérrez Gregoric, D.E. 2020. Potamolithus spp. in the Argentine pampas. Tentacle 28: 15-17. IUCN. 2012. Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iii + 41 p. Núñez, V., Gutiérrez Gregoric, D.E & Rumi, A. 2010. Freshwater gastropods provinces from Argentina. Malacologia 53(1): 47-60. Rumi, A., Gutiérrez Gregoric, D.E., Núñez, V., Cesar, I.I., Roche, M. A., Tassara, M.P., Martín, S.M. & López Armengol, M.F. 2006. Freshwater Gastropoda from Argentina: species richness, distribution patterns, and an evaluation of endangered species. Malacologia 49(1): 189-208.  Rumi, A., Gutiérrez Gregoric, D.E., Núñez, V. & Darrigran, G.A. 2008. Malacología latinoamericana. Moluscos de agua dulce de Argentina. Revista de Biología Tropical 56(1): 77-111.  Torres, S. & Darrigran, G. 2019. Distribution and conservation status of freshwater Bivalvia (Unionida, Mytilida, Venerida) in Argentina. Tentacle 27: 19-21. Torres, S., Cao, L., Gutiérrez Gregoric, D.E., de Lucía, M., Brea, F., Reshaid, Y., Ortiz Blanche, M. & Darrigran, G. 2018. Update of Unionoida (Bivalvia, Paleoheterodonta) from Argentina: distribution and conservation. PLoS ONE 13(9): e0203616.         Diego E. Gutiérrez Gregoric, División Zoología Invertebrados, Sección Malacología, Museo de La Plata (FCNyM-UNLP); and CONICET, Argentina. dieguty@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar  Micaela de Lucía, Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de Buenos Aires (CIC). División Zoología Invertebrados, Museo de La Plata (FCNyM-UNLP), Argentina. micadelucia@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar  Santiago Torres, Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Santa Cruz (CONICET-UNPA-UTN). Unidad Académica San Julián, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral, Argentina. santiagotorres87@gmail.com  Gustavo Darrigran (corresponding author), División Zoología Invertebrados, Sección Malacología, Museo de La Plata (FCNyM-UNLP); and CONICET, Argentina. invasion@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar   NOT SILVER, NOT GOLD BUT A PRECIOUS MUSSEL FAUNA: PAST AND FUTURE OF UNIONIDA OF RÍO DE LA PLATA  By Cristhian Clavijo & Igor Christo Miyahira  The Río de la Plata basin covers an area of 3.25 million km2 making it the 6th largest river basin in the world. It includes territory of five South American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and large rivers as tributaries, notably the Paraná, Paraguay and Uruguay Rivers. The name ‘Plata’ (which means ‘silver’ in Spanish) was given by the conquerors because of their belief that they would find this precious metal by following the river. The silver was not found in great quantities, but another precious thing was found later, a rich mussel fauna (Fig. 1). Freshwater mussels (Unionida) are represented in the Río de la Plata basin by two families: Mycetopodidae and Hyriidae. There has been more than 200 years of research on this basin but this effort did not take place continuously or homogeneously through time, and thus knowledge of these molluscs is still poor. These gaps in knowledge hinder the evaluation of conservation status and Fig. 2. Chilina fluminea (Gastropoda, Chilinidae, length ~ 1.5 cm) in the Río de la Plata (Buenos Aires province), on a branch with settled Limnoperna fortunei (Bivalvia), an invasive species and one of the main threats to the epifauna in this river basin. Fig. 1. Geo-referenced bivalve records for Argentina. A, native species; B, non-native species. 

Pandemic and conservation of freshwater molluscs in Argentina

To date, the impact of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina has been quite significant in terms of social activity, but more specifically in terms of scientific field. Completion of research by the present authors on issues related to the conservation and distribution of gastropods and freshwater bivalves from Argentina has been delayed because of laboratories being closed or fieldwork not being possible. Regarding the conservation of the freshwater mollusc fauna of Argentina, there is a relatively high species richness of around 168 species but there are also considerable information and resources gaps when it comes to the study of freshwater molluscs, both native and non-native, the latter also being a threat to native biodiversity. For this purpose, we have taken up the challenge of generating an update of the distributions of the freshwater mollusc taxa of Argentina, as well as their conservation status according to criterion B of regional distribution according to the IUCN. The databases of freshwater molluscs have been updated, based on records in malacological collections, that is, analysis of new pre-pandemic collections, as well as publications since 2008 and 2010. To date, we have finished updating both the list of species, as well as the records for bivalves. For gastropods, the list of species has been fully updated, but the list of records has only been partially updated. For the completed databases, the GEOCat software applied by IUCN has been used to estimate the Extent of Occurrence (EOO) and Area of Occupation (AOO) of each of the species, and thus to determine the level of vulnerability. As a result of this update, we estimate that in Argentina there are 68 species of bivalves and 117 gastropods. Thus the numbers of recorded freshwater mollusc species in Argentina appear to have increased in recent years, rising from 168 to 185

Gutiérrez Gregoric, Diego Eduardo

de Lucía, Micaela

Torres, Santiago

Darrigran, Gustavo

Centro de Servicios en Gestión de Información

LAReferencia - Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas Latinoamericanas

https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/bitstream/11336/152967/5/CONICET_Digital_Nro.0792a067-2822-407a-b560-0024abc40c48_B.pdf

Pandemic and conservation of freshwater molluscs in Argentina

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