Micro-CT screening of old shell collections helps to understand the distribution of viviparity in the highly diversifed clausiliid clade of land snails

Current zoological research may benefit in many ways from the study of old collections of shells. These collections may provide materials for the verification of broad zoogeographical and ecological hypotheses on the reproduction of molluscs, as they include records from many areas where sampling is currently impossible or very difficult due to political circumstances. In the present paper we present data on viviparous and embryo-retention reproductive modes in clausiliid land snails (subfamily Phaedusinae) acquired from specimens collected since the nineteenth century in the Pontic, Hyrcanian, and East and Southeast Asian regions. X-ray imaging (micro-CT) enabled relatively quick screening of more than 1,000 individuals classified within 141 taxa, among which we discovered 205 shells containing embryos or eggs. Gravid individuals were found to belong to 55 species, representing, for some of these species, the first indication of brooding reproductive strategy

Terrestrial gastropods of the park in Obrzycko

Species composition and structure of the malacocoenosis of the park in Obrzycko are described. Thirty species of terrestrial snails were identified, with Arianta arbustorum as superdominant, and eudominants represented by Succinea putris and Helix pomatia. The dominants included Clausilia bidentata, Arion subfuscus, Trichia hispida and Cochlicopa lubrica. The malacocoenosis is polymictic; the indices of species diversity (H’=3.11) and equitability (J’=0.63) are high. Synanthropic and euryoecious species prevail; biogeographically European and Holarctic species are the most numerous

Malacocoenoses of alder carrs (Wielkopolska, Poland)

Malacoceonoses of alder carrs in 20 localities in central Wielkopolska, on the Warta River, were composed of 46 species of terrestrial gastropods. The density ranged from 16 to 828 indiv./m2, the species diversity (H) from 1.48 to 3.75. In the summer in litter the most frequent and most abundant species were Carychium minimum, Perforatella incarnata, Zonitoides nitidus, Nesovitrea hammonis, Cochlicopa lubrica and Discus rotundatus. The following species are common to alder forests of Poland (Chodzie¿ Region, boundary of Wielkopolska, Silesia and Cracow-Wieluñ Jura, Kaczawskie Mts, banks of the Smolnica River in the Notecka Forest and central Wielkopolska): C. minimum, Succinea putris, S. oblonga, C. lubrica, Euconulus fulvus, Punctum pygmaeum, Vitrea crystallina, Aegopinella pura and Arion circumscriptus

Malacocenoses of the nature reserve Buki nad Jeziorem Lutomskim

A 15-month study in a beech forest and alder forest in a nature reserve Buki nad Jeziorem Lutomskim revealed the presence of 36 land gastropod species of 14 families. Euryoecious species and forest species of European distribution dominated. The mean density of gastropods in the beech forest was 36 indiv./m2, in the alder forest 27 indiv./m2. The density in the beech and alder forest was the highest in winter, the lowest in summer. A highly significant correlation was found between the density and the number of species. In the beech forest malacocenosis, the superdominant was Discus rotundatus (O. F. Müller), the eudominant being Cochlodina laminata (Montagu). In the alder forest, no superdominant could be distinguished, the eudominants being Discus rotundatus (O. F. Müller) and Cochlodina laminata (Montagu). Dominant species, as well as the number of species, species diversity, equitability and frequency varied between months. In the beech forest Discus rotundatus (O. F. Müller) – an accessory species – showed the highest frequency; in the alder forest all species were accidental. Juvenile individuals were more numerous than adults in spring samples from the beech forest and in autumn samples from the alder forest

A new locality of Macrogastra ventricosa (Draparnaud, 1801) (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Clausiliidae) in Wielkopolska (Poland)

Macrogastra ventricosa, previously known only as subfossil in central Poland, was found in an alder forest in the Żerkowsko-Czeszewski Landscape Park

Materials to the knowledge of molluscs of Wielkopolska (West-Central Poland). III. Families: Aciculidae J. E. Gray, 1850, Carychiidae Jeffreys, 1830, Succineidae H. Beck, 1837, Cochlicopidae Pilsbry, 1900

The paper presents data on 10 terrestrial snail species: Platyla polita (W. Hartmann, 1840), Carychium (Carychium) minimum O. F. Müller, 1774, C. (Saraphia) tridentatum (Risso, 1826), Succinea putris (Linnaeus, 1758), Succinella oblonga (Draparnaud, 1801), Oxyloma (Oxyloma) elegans (Risso, 1826), O. (O.) sarsii (Esmark, 1886), Cochlicopa lubrica (O. F. Müller, 1774), C. lubricella (Rossmässler, 1834), C. nitens (M. von Gallenstein, 1848), recorded over the last fifty years in the Wielkopolska district (W. Poland). They include species location in the UTM grid on the map of Wielkopolska. Among those species Cochlicopa lubrica (663 sites) and Succinea putris (422 sites) are the most frequent in Wielkopolska