Türkiye Salyangozları Tatlı Su ve Acı Sular / Turkish Snails Freshwater and Brackish Waters

Abstract

Turkey, which possesses the characteristics of a small continent in terms of biodiversity, represents a unique area within the Palearctic region. This diversity has undoubtedly emerged as a result of fascinating paleogeographic, hydrogeographic, and topographic developments. However, it is also evident that this continental richness has not been sufficiently explored or fully understood. For many years, numerous scientists have been working to uncover this rich structure. Particularly, European scientists have long produced various works focused on this exceptional diversity. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge the fact that the number of such studies is limited and insufficient across Turkey, and more research is required. The topic of this book, the species of Gastropoda found in Turkey and their distributions, has largely not been fully revealed either. In recent years, a small number of dedicated studies have led to the identification of new taxa, which is a clear indication of this situation. Due to Turkey’s vast topographic and geographical diversity in relatively small areas, it has a significant speciation potential. This has had a decisive impact on the speciation mechanisms of slow-moving organisms like snails. For example, species belonging to the genus Graecoanatolica, which are distributed in the Balkans, Aegean Islands, and western regions of Turkey, illustrate this situation. Species of this genus, such as G. lacustristurca Radoman, 1973; G. tenuis Radoman, 1973; G. kocapinarica Radoman, 1973; G. conica Radoman, 1973; G. brevis Radoman, 1973; G. pamphylica Schütt, 1964; G. dinarica Kebapçı, Koca, and Yıldırım, 2012; and G. yildirimi Glöer and Pešić, 2015, have speciated in the narrow areas of Southwestern Anatolia. A similar situation can also be observed in many genera, including Bithynia, Bythinella, and other genera within the Hydrobiidae family. It should also be noted that this speciation is not exclusive to snails with narrow ecological requirements. For instance, in genera with broader distributions and generally considered euryoxic, such as Stagnicola, Radix, and Lymnaea, speciation has also been observed in narrow areas. However, it should be clearly stated that the vast majority of the identifications have been made based on morphological and some anatomical features. Therefore, there is a significant need for studies at the molecular level. This book aims to compile the current information on the species of Gastropoda and their distributions in Turkey’s inland waters, thereby creating a fundamental resource for the subject.