The rapidly spreading Giant African Snail Lissachatina [=Achatina] fulica (Bowdich, 1822) has been introduced to many parts of the world since the 1800s and is one of the world’s most invasive species. We compared cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences from four invasive ranges: India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China and West Africa. Sixteen distinct haplotypes were identified, with nine found in India, four in the UAE, one in China and four in West Africa. Haplotype 5 was the most common haplotype in Asia and haplotype 1 the most common in West Africa. Network analysis suggests that all haplotypes in India, the UAE, China and West Africa were derived from the most common haplotype 5 which is present in all three invasive ranges in Asia. Higher levels of genetic variation were observed in the invasive ranges of Asia than in West Africa. The high genetic variation observed in Asia, together with high levels of trade as exemplified by wood import data, supports the hypothesis that there could have been multiple invasion events in India and the UAE. Additional sampling from the native and invasive ranges in Africa and from other regions of invasion is essential for understanding the movement and spread of L. fulica.

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In the present paper, we report the presence of 503 species of moths (343 identified to species, 160 identified to genus) that belong to 371 genera under 42 families.  The study was conducted at Kavvai River basin, northern Kerala, India for three years from 2015 to 2017.  Traditional light trapping method was employed to collect the moths during the night.  Among the families reported, Erebidae was the most dominant family followed by Crambidae, Geometridae, Noctuidae, and Pyraliade.  The study highlights the significance of the riverbasin in conserving rich diversity of invertebrates.

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