IDENTIFICATION OF AGRICULTURALLY IMPORTANT MOLLUSCS TO THE U.S. AND OBSERVATIONS ON SELECT FLORIDA SPECIES By JODI WHITE-MCLEAN A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2012 1 © 2012 Jodi White-McLean 2 To my wonderful husband Steve whose love and support helped me to complete this work. I also dedicate this work to my beautiful daughter Sidni who remains the sunshine in my life. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my committee chairman, Dr. John Capinera for his endless support and guidance. His invaluable effort to encourage critical thinking is greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank my supervisory committee (Dr. Amanda Hodges, Dr. Catharine Mannion, Dr. Gustav Paulay and John Slapcinsky) for their guidance in completing this work. I would like to thank Terrence Walters, Matthew Trice and Amanda Redford form the United States Department of Agriculture - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service - Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA-APHIS-PPQ) for providing me with financial and technical assistance. This degree would not have been possible without their help. I also would like to thank John Slapcinsky and the staff as the Florida Museum of Natural History for making their collections and services available and accessible. I also would like to thank Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman for her assistance in the collection of the fungi used in this dissertation. I am truly grateful for the time that both Dr. Gillett-Kaufman and Dr. James Kimbrough committed to the identification of the fungal specimens included herein. I also would like to thank Paul Skelley for providing his time and willingly sharing his expertise in scanning electron microscopy. I would like to thank Dr. James Cuda for providing access to his field collecting equipment for use in the collection of the molluscs. Many thanks to Lyle Buss. I do appreciate him taking the time to make the beautiful photography component of this dissertation a success. I also would like to express my sincere gratitude to Kay Weigel for dedicating her time to produce the drawings included in this work. 4 I am forever indebted to Danae Perry and Marissa Gonzalez for their consistently exceptional work. Without their help this degree would not have been completed in a timely manner. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 9 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 10 LIST OF OBJECTS ....................................................................................................... 13 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 14 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................ 17 2 TERRESTRIAL MOLLUSC TOOL .......................................................................... 20 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 20 Materials and Methods............................................................................................ 21 Supporting Materials ........................................................................................ 22 Key Construction .............................................................................................. 24 Results .................................................................................................................... 25 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 25 3 THE CONSUMPTION PATTERN OF DEROCERAS RETICULATUM AND D. LAEVE (AGRIOLIMACIDAE) AT TWO TEMPERATURES AND TWO DENSITIES ............................................................................................................. 30 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 30 Materials and Methods............................................................................................ 31 Results .................................................................................................................... 33 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 34 4 HOST PLANT PREFERENCE OF AGRICULTURALLY IMPORTANT MOLLUSC SPECIES .............................................................................................. 43 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 43 Materials and Methods............................................................................................ 46 Molluscs and Plants ......................................................................................... 46 Palatability Tests .............................................................................................. 47 Statistical Analysis ............................................................................................ 50 Results .................................................................................................................... 50 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 52 6 5 NOTES ON THE LIFE HISTORY TRAITS AND FEEDING BEHAVIOR OF PHILOMYCUS CAROLINIANUS (PULMONATA: STYLOMMATOPHORA: PHILOMYCIDAE) ................................................................................................... 63 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 63 Materials and Methods............................................................................................ 64 Life History Traits ............................................................................................. 64 Evaluation of Artificial and Natural Diets for Short-term Rearing ...................... 68 Food Preference ............................................................................................... 69 Results .................................................................................................................... 72 Life History Traits ............................................................................................. 72 Evaluation of Artificial and Natural Diets for Short-term Rearing ...................... 74 Food Preference ............................................................................................... 75 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 76 Life History Traits ............................................................................................. 76 Evaluation of Artificial and Natural Diets for Short-term Rearing ...................... 79 Food Preference ............................................................................................... 81 6 PRELIMINARY FINDINGS ON THE EVISION OF THE GENUS PHILOMYCUS (PULMONATA: STYLOMMATOPHORA: PHILOMYCIDAE) .................................. 99 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 99 Materials and Methods.......................................................................................... 100 Species Definition ........................................................................................... 100 Specimen Collection and Preparation ............................................................ 101 Morphological Characters............................................................................... 102 Adult Reproductive System Characters .......................................................... 102 Morphological Phylogenetic Analysis ............................................................. 106 Isolation of DNA, Amplification by PCR and Sequencing ............................... 106 Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis .................................................................... 108 Results .................................................................................................................. 109 Morphological Phylogenetic Analysis ............................................................. 109 Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis .................................................................... 110 Mitochondrial Clades ...................................................................................... 110 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 111 Taxonomic History of Philomycus ......................................................................... 114 Systematic Accounts............................................................................................. 118 Family Philomycidae Gray 1847 ....................................................................