New Alien Species Mytilopsis Leucophaeata and Corbicula Fluminalis (Mollusca, Bivalvia) Recorded in Georgia and Notes on Other Non-Indigenous Molluscs Invaded the South Caucasus

Abstract

First records of invasive bivalve freshwater mollusc species Mytilopsis leucophaeata (Conrad, 1831) and Corbicula fluminalis (O. F. Müller, 1774) in Georgia are reported. No native or alien extant dreissenid species have ever been recorded form this region so far. A finding of C. fluminalis in Georgia is also a new record for the country though this species inhabits the rivers of adjacent Azerbaijan. Apart from two mentioned bivalve molluscs three non-indigenous gastropod species are registered from Georgia: freshwater Ferrisia californica (Rowell, 1863) and Physella acuta (Draparnaud, 1805) and land snail Eobania vermiculata (O. F. Müller, 1774).

Risk of invasiveness of non-native fishes in the South Caucasus biodiversity and geopolitical hotspot

“…Despite preliminary efforts, there are currently no effective nation-wide initiatives in these countries to provide an inventory of non-native species, nor are there any related monitoring programmes in place. In fact, only incidental academic studies have so far provided some authoritative, albeit in most cases still partial, inventories of non-native plants (Kikodze et al 2010;Fayvush and Tamanyan 2014;Sharabidze et al 2018;Abdiyeva 2019), molluscs (Mumladze et al 2019), insects (Aleksidze et al 2021) and fishes (Kuljanishvili et al 2021b). Yet, none of the aforementioned inventories (except for fishes) is complete or up-to-date enough to be useful at the national or cross-national level.…”

Shell Mass, Biomass, Condition, and Reproductive State of the Invasive Bivalve Mytilopsis leucophaeata (Conrad, 1831) (Dreissenidae)

“…The first records of Mytilopsis leucophaeata in Europe were made between 1800 and 1830 in Tenby (Pembrokeshire, South Wales, Britain) (Oliver 2015) and in 1835 (Kickx in Nyst 1835) in the harbor of Antwerp (Belgium). Since then, the species has colonized hard substrates in brackish coastal waters, in particular harbor areas, in Europe with a recent expansion to the Black Sea and Caspian Sea (Zhulidov et al 2015, 2018, Mumladze et al 2019. In spite of an increasing interest in M. leucophaeata, knowledge of the biology and ecology of this brackish water mussel is limited compared with that of other invasive Dreissenidae, such as the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771) and the quagga mussel Dreissena rostriformis bugensis (Andrusov, 1897) (Kennedy 2011).…”