Distribution and habitats of Corbicula fluminalis africana (Mollusca: Bivalvia) in South Africa

Abstract

An account is given of the geographical distribution and habitats of the South African representative of the genus Corbicula Mühlfeld 1811, formerly known as C. africana (Krauss, 1848) but currently regarded as conspecific with the Asian clam, C. fluminalis (Müller, 1774). Data pertaining to 390 samples of C. fluminalis africana (Krauss, 1848) were extracted from the database of the National Freshwater Snail Collection (NFSC) and statistically analysed. Details of each habitat, as well as mean altitude and mean annual temperature and rainfall for each locality, were processed to determine chi-square and effect size values. An integrated decision tree constructed from the data indicated that temperature, altitude, current speed and type of water-body seemed the more important factors that significantly influenced the distribution of this species in South Africa. In spite of the fact that C.

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