Preliminary report on the occurrence of molluscs in the selected rice field ecosystem in Jabalpur district with the report on the occurrence of exotic invasive snail Physella acuta (Draparnaud, 1805)

Rice field ecosystem provides favorable conditions for the development of freshwater snails.Molluscs have been reported as crop pests throughout every inhabited continent in the world.The diversity of Rice field ecosystem of 2 selected farms have been studied in every monsoon season of consecutive 3 years from 2022 to 2024 in Jabalpur , Madhya Pradesh, India.The study was carried out in different ecological niches of rice field ecosystem.A total of 17 species of Freshwater and terrestrial Molluscs belonging to 13 families were recorded during the study period.Of these the occurance of exotic invasive snail Physella acuta (Draparnaud, 1805) was also recorded for the first time from the state.Indoplanorbis exustus (Deshayes, 1833) was the most common species found in the study site followed by Radix rufescence (Gray, 1822).In the present study exotic invasive land snail Achantina fulica (Bowdich, 1822) and pestiferous land snail Macrochlamys indica (Godwin-Austin, 1883) were also reported to be occur.Present study aims to be beneficial for the understanding of the mollusks biodiversity in the irrigated rice field ecosystem and further intense study in this regard will be beneficial for the controlling the harmful effects of Molluscs on the crop and the ecosystem.