Reconsidering invasion history of common land snails in Japan through genome-wide analyses

Understanding the method of introduction and historical factors in non-native species is essential, especially in regions like Japan that have a large number of populated cities with a long history of human activity. Bradybaena similaris is a circumtropical land snail that is considered a non-native species from Southeast Asia or East Asia to Japan, which was introduced by human activities such as sugarcane or sweet potato establishment several hundred years ago. Bradybaena pellucida, a sister species of B. similaris, is native to western Japan, but has recently spread throughout the eastern part of the country. We investigated how recent human activities have influenced the increased distribution and genetic diversification of non-native organisms using the two land snail species.