Potamolithus spp. in the argentine pampas

Abstract

The genus Potamolithus is the only native representative of the family Tateidae in South America. It includes small gastropods (up to 7 mm) that inhabit rivers and streams of the Southern Cone of South America (López Armengol, 1996). Most of the species of Potamolithus are known only from their shells; only a few have anatomical and molecular information. In Argentina, nine species (out of the 24 present) have anatomical descriptions that include pallial organs, radula, reproductive system and external characters of the soft parts (Pilsbry, 1911; López Armengol, 1996; Miquel, 1998; Núñez, 2016; de Lucía & Gutiérrez Gregoric, 2017a, b). From the genetic point of view, only four species have information available in GenBank. There have been no studies of population level aspects in the genus.