Wood-Boring Isopods from Mangrove Forests of India

Abstract

Marine borers of mangroves are represented by two groups of organisms - molluscs and crustaceans. The crustacean wood borers are mainly restricted to the order Isopoda. The genus Sphaeroma of the order Isopoda cause extensive damage to wood and under water wooden structure and are also capable of extending their destructive activities to mangroves as well. In India, two species and a variety of sphaeromatids, namely, Sphaeroma annandalei, Sphaeroma annandalei travancorensis and S. terebrans have been identified as major crustacean borer species that causes heavy destruction to timber in mangroves. All these isopods also occur abundantly in living prop ischolar_mains of Rhizophora spp., live pneumatophores of Sonneratia and Avicennia spp. and also knee ischolar_mains of Brugiera gymnorhiza. They are distributed in both the coasts of India, often posing serious threat to mangrove vegetation. The distribution of these species along the coasts and their relative abundance in different mangroves of India has been discussed.