MOLLUSCS OF THE MONTEBELLO ISLANDS

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 9 years ago

Summary - Six hundred thirty-three species of molluscs are recorded from the Montebello Islands, northwestern Australia. This is the second highest diversity of molluscs recorded on any of the surveys of tropical reef systems conducted by the Western Australian Museum; only the expedition to the Muiron Islands and eastern Exmouth Gulf recorded more species of molluscs (655). It is comparable to three surveys of the central area of the Indo-West Pacific conducted by Conservation International, though the Cl surveys included only one malacologist. Of those species recorded from the Montebellos whose distributions are known, the great majority are widespread Indo-West Pacific species. A single warm temperate Australian species, Thais orbita, was collected. The molluscan assemblage at the Montebellos is characteristic of the continental coastline, not the offshore atolls. Drupella cornus, a coralliverous species known to cause considerable damage to corals along the Ningaloo Reef Tract in Western Australia, is present at the Montebellos, but no damage to coral populations was found.