The Freshwater Gastropods of the West-Palaearctis. Identification Key, Anatomy, Ecology, Distribution. Vol. II: Moitessieriidae, Bythinellidae, Stenothyridae

Description:

The families covered in Vol. II contain 23 genera. 464 species have been depicted on 521 photgraphic plates, using syn-, holo-, para-, and topotypes where possible. Identifications with type-materials are important because formerly species have been identified regionally, i.e. all Bythinella from Crete are mentioned as B. cretensis in the literature but on Crete, there are three distinct species known so far. Also, many type localities have been destroyed in recent decades and a dramatic decline and loss of mollusc diversity has occurred. Many species listed in this volume may now be extinct.

It is not possible to distinguish the genera of the Moitessieriidae and Hydrobiidae because there is a large overlap in shell shapes and penes morphology between these families, so the identification keys for both families are displayed in Vol. II and III to make identification possible.

The first identification key for the freshwater gastropods of the West Palaearctic, taking into consideration the progress of malacological research of recent decades. Nearly all species have been depicted with high-quality photos and in a way that species identification is possible. Additional descriptions and identification keys, which refer to the typical characters of the species, support the depictions. For most species, photos of the anatomy are provided. The basis of the species considered in this book are the lists of the Fauna Europaea project, published by Ruud Bank (2004, 2011a, 2011b) as well as Bank & Neubert (2018) with additions of species which have been described after 2011 and Vinarski & Kantor (2018) for Russia. These checklists have been expanded by species living outside Europe. The borders of the West-Palaearctic are Iceland in the north, the Ural, along the Caspian Sea to Iran in the east, the Near East and Northern Africa to Portugal in the west. In addition, species names in doubt have been compared with WORMS (World Register of Marine Species).