Benthic marine mollusks of the Strait of Magellan, Chile (Polyplacophora, Gastropoda, Bivalvia): a historical review of Natural History

An increase in richness of benthic marine mollusks has been described in the Pacific coast of Chile towards high latitudes in recent decades. This considerable increase in diversity occurs specifically at the beginning of the Magellanic Biogeographic Province. Within this province lies the Strait of Magellan, considered the most important channel because it connects the South Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. These characteristics make an interesting area for marine research, thus the Strait of Magellan has historically been the area with the greatest research effort within the Province. However, despite the efforts there is no comprehensive and updated list of the diversity of mollusks within the Strait of Magellan up to now. This study consisted of a complete bibliographic review of all available literature that included samples of mollusks in the Strait of Magellan. More than 300 articles were reviewed, covering 200 years of scientific knowledge. There were 2579 records belonging to 412 taxa, of which 347 are valid species. Of the total valid species, 44 (~13%) are considered with doubtful presence in the Strait. This work increases the richness of mollusks of the Strait of Magellan by 228%; it is also the first report that integrates all available diversity studies of the three most speciose classes of benthic mollusk (Gastropoda, Bivalvia and Polyplacophora) from the Strait of Magellan.