Mollusks of agricultural and medical importance registered in ports of Panama, Central America

Resumo

We identified the species of land snails found in products exported from other countries, which could represent a danger to crops, animals, and the general population of our country and the Central American region. Specimens were collected at four points at each site, in the dry season (January to March 2008) and in the rainy season (April to December 2008 and 2009), twice a week each month. Diversity indices were used to determine species richness in the Caribbean (Province of Colón) and Pacific (Province of Panama) cargo ports. In total, 2,481 individuals of terrestrial mollusks were found, confirming the presence of Allopeas gracile (Hutton, 1834) in 10 cargo areas with n= 1,566 (63.1%), most of them at Tocumen International Airport in the Pacific, Panama City, and with more activity in the rainy season. Praticolella mexicana was also reported for the first time in our country and is a terrestrial inhabitant of environments, frequently associated with open areas or important shrublands, for its role as an agricultural pest and as a potential vector of parasitic nematodes (such as Angiostrongylus) that affect humans and animals. In addition, more land snails were detected and collected in the loading areas of the ports in the rainy season. In the biodiversity indices, it was observed that there was no predominance of one species over the others. After this, it was concluded that the presence of these snails in our ports represents a critical challenge to bio-sanitary security in the region because it threatens food and agricultural security by producing economic losses and vulnerability of crops. The species found are invasive species, vectors of diseases that affect public health. It is necessary to have a lot of vigilance, which impacts the port biosecurity of the countries of the Central American region.

KEY WORDS: Biosecurity; invasive species; Gastropoda; Public Health.