Abstract
The marbled crayfish (Procambarus fallax f. virginalis) has become one of the potentially most dangerous non-indigenous crayfish species spreading in European countries and elsewhere. This taxon reproduces parthenogenetically and recently has been verified as a vector of the crayfish plague pathogen. Here, we report on two established populations of marbled crayfish in the Czech Republic. The marbled crayfish was observed during autumn 2015 in an urban pond connected by sewer piping with the Rokytka brook near its mouth to the Vltava River in Prague. Subsequently, three adult females, two of them having well-developed glair glands and oocytes, were captured in this pond during spring 2016, suggesting successful overwintering of the local population. Furthermore, four adult females were captured in an artificial pond at the Radovesická lignite spoil heap in the vicinity to the industrial conurbation of Bílina in summer 2016; one of them carried eggs. We tested these for the presence of the crayfish plague pathogen Aphanomyces astaci, with negative results. The introduction pathway for both populations is most likely a release from private aquaria, as these sites are popular for recreation activities. Our findings substantiate previous predictions that conurbations are likely to be the primary areas for marbled crayfish introductions.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Marie Lupoměská (Town District Prague 9) for permission to survey the urban pond, Jakub Friedl for reporting on the presence of crayfish in the Přátelství Park, to Filip Tichánek for various information on the Radovesická spoil heap, and to Zuzana Musilová for help with sampling at the Radovesická spoil heap. Denis Copilaş-Ciocianu, Nuria Viñuela Rodríguez and Agata Mrugała helped with laboratory analyses. The study was financially supported by the project “CIGA” (No. 20152007), the Czech Science Foundation (P504/12/2525), the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic - projects CENAKVA (No. CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0024) and CENAKVA II (No. LO1205 under the NPU I program), and the University of South Bohemia (GAJU 158/2016/P). English was proofread by Gale A. Kirking at English Editorial Services.
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Patoka, J., Buřič, M., Kolář, V. et al. Predictions of marbled crayfish establishment in conurbations fulfilled: Evidences from the Czech Republic. Biologia 71, 1380–1385 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2016-0164
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2016-0164