Introduced land snails in the Fiji Islands : are there risks involved ?

Fiji’s land snail fauna is highly diverse. There are over 230 species of which about 90% are native and 78% are endemic to the archipelago. There are 18 introduced species and four that are of uncertain origin within the Pacific. Information to allow easy identification of these species is lacking, as is related information about the risks involved with the introduced species in respect to trade, crop production or human and livestock health. To address this latter information gap, existing and new data on Fiji’s introduced land snail fauna were collated. This information is urgently required to identify and manage introduced and potentially invasive species and if possible to prevent their spread to noninfected islands. Other Pacific Island countries and territories have suffered substantial endemic land snail biodiversity loss, particularly because of invasive snail species that are not yet present in Fiji. Except for one of these latter species, the giant African snail (Achatina (Lissachatina) fulica), the Fiji government authorities have no baseline reference material that allows them to quickly and accurately identify and understand the biology of even the most common introduced snails. If not addressed this lack of information may have major long-term implications for agriculture, quarantine, trade and human health. The alien species already introduced to Fiji are spreading unacknowledged despite several of them being known disease vectors and agricultural pests elsewhere. This paper provides collated land snail information to government departments such as agriculture, quarantine, forestry and environment, and in turn provides a platform on which to build a stronger understanding of how introduced snail species may be impacting trade, agricultural production and human and livestock health in Fiji.