Identification of terrestrial gastropods families found in district Swat, Pakistan

Very little is known about the malacofauna in district Swat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, situated in the Northern part of Pakistan. The Swat valley possesses a variety of suitable environmental conditions, providing different types of habitats for both flora and fauna. Taken into consideration these points, the present study was conducted to explore the terrestrial snails diversity in agricultural and non-agricultural fields in the lower Swat valley. A total of 417 shells were collected from three sites: Kokarai, Kanju Township, and Deolai. Based on conchological features, three families: Bradybaenidae, Hygromiidae, and Zonitidae were identified using different terrestrial snail keys. In Kokarai and Deolai, shells of members of all the above-mentioned families were found from agricultural fields. In Kanju Township, shells of members of the family Bradybaenidae and Zonitidae were found. From these findings, it was concluded that district Swat possesses a significant malacofauna which was unexplored before and aided more to the existing literature on malacofauna. It also supports the idea that the agroecosystem is rich in species diversity. Further in-depth and extensive study is recommended to be carried out for a detailed taxonomy of the described terrestrial gastropod families.

Can Estivation Preferences Be Used to Develop Novel Management Tools against Invasive Mediterranean Snails?

Terrestrial snails that live in hot and dry climates have developed strategies to cope with high summer temperatures. Several species estivate during the warmest months of the years by resting on vertical supports, typically in groups. Understanding how snails choose their estivation sites and aggregate may lead to the development of new management tools in areas where these snails are invasive. Here, we investigated the preferences of four snail species for vertical supports varying in widths and heights under laboratory and field conditions, and tested whether the presence of conspecifics or snails of other species affected these preferences. The results show that the snails strongly preferred wider supports in laboratory dual-choice tests, and one species (Theba pisana) showed a consistent preference for taller supports as well. These results were confirmed in the field, where more snails were found on wider and taller supports 24 h after being placed in test quadrats. The percentage of snails found in groups on a support was strongly density-dependent. The presence of conspecifics or their mucus did not affect the choices of the snails, nor did the presence of snails of other species or their mucus. Taken together, these results could lead to the development of attractive supports that could be used to mass-capture snails in the field.

Diversity of terrestrial gastropods in Kabylia region (Tizi-Ouzou, Northern Algeria)

The goal of this study was to record the malacofauna of the Kabylia region, Tizi-Ouzou, in Northern Algeria, at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, and to report the distribution pattern of terrestrial gastropod diversity in five different types of habitat (dune, agricultural fields, rural sites, forests, and mountain locations). A total of 33 species of terrestrial snails and slugs were recorded, which represented 27 genera of 19 families, mainly Geomitridae and Helicidae. The rural habitat was the richest, with 23 species, while the mountain habitat yielded 20 species. The dune and forest habitats showed the smallest species richness.

Diversity of Terrestrial Snails in Dien Bien Province (Mollusca: Gastropoda)

The research has been carried out in Dien Bien Province (Northwest region of Vietnam) from 2013 to 2019. This is the very first checklist of the terrestrial snails of Dien Bien Province. The checklists provide databases and helps to understand the biodiversity richness of the particular region of country. As such, they also open trends for further research priorities. Altogether 80 species and subspecies of terrestrial snails belonging to 17 families, 49 genera are listed with 5 genera (Lagocheilus, Metalycaeus, Scabrina, Laotia, and Moellendorffia) and 36 new species recorded for Dien Bien Province