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Refugial occurrence and ecology of the land snail Vertigo lilljeborgi in fen habitats in temperate mainland Europe
Vertigo lilljeborgi (Westerlund, 1871) is one of the rarest terrestrial snail species in temperate
mainland Europe, traditionally considered a glacial relict there. This contrasts with its
occurrence in northern Europe where it is a widespread species. This species prefers
constantly wet habitats that are neutral to slightly acidic, and avoids highly alkaline
conditions, which is an extremely rare ecology for a Eurasian mollusc. Until 2012, only five
historical records of this species were known in mainland Europe to the south of its main
distribution in northern Europe. Since then, 20 new sites have been discovered, mostly located
in the Hercynian Mountains (Bohemian Massif in the Czech Republic and Massif Central in
France). In comparison with the boreal European and Alpine populations, those from the
Hercynian Mountains inhabit acidic, rather soligenous and productive fens, strongly
dominated by Sphagnum. Vertigo lilljeborgi does not occur in some sites with apparently
suitable habitats as indicated by species composition of the vegetation. We observed a
surprising correspondence between the occurrence of V. lilljeborgi and mean July air
temperature and we report its first fossil record from the last glacial period from Central
Europe. Although the number of its sites has increased recently, these sites represent unusual
and highly unique habitats, vulnerable to drainage and destruction from human activities. This
calls for a need of conservation efforts in most of the newly discovered isolated sites