Organisms provide some of the most sensitive indicators of climate change and evolutionary responses are becoming apparent in species with short generation times. Large datasets on genetic polymorphism that can provide an historical benchmark against which to test for recent evolutionary responses are very rare, but an exception is found in the brown-lipped banded snail (Cepaea nemoralis). This species is sensitive to its thermal environment and exhibits several polymorphisms of shell colour and banding pattern affecting shell albedo in the majority of populations within its native range in Europe. We tested for evolutionary changes in shell albedo that might have been driven by the warming of the climate in Europe over the last half century by compiling an historical dataset for 6,515 native populations of C. nemoralis and comparing this with new data on nearly 3,000 populations. The new data were sampled mainly in 2009 through the Evolution MegaLab, a citizen science project that engaged thousands of volunteers in 15 countries throughout Europe in the biggest such exercise ever undertaken. A known geographic cline in the frequency of the colour phenotype with the highest albedo (yellow) was shown to have persisted and a difference in colour frequency between woodland and more open habitats was confirmed, but there was no general increase in the frequency of yellow shells. This may have been because snails adapted to a warming climate through behavioural thermoregulation. By contrast, we detected an unexpected decrease in the frequency of Unbanded shells and an increase in the Mid-banded morph. Neither of these evolutionary changes appears to be a direct response to climate change, indicating that the influence of other selective agents, possibly related to changing predation pressure and habitat change with effects on micro-climate.

Aim Shells of fossil molluscs are important for palaeoecological reconstructions. However, the habitat requirements of snail species typical of central European full-glacial loess sediments are poorly known because most of them became very rare or extinct in Europe. The recent discovery of an almost complete extant assemblage of such species in mountainous regions of central Asia enables more precise characterization of their habitats, which may significantly improve reconstructions of Pleistocene environments.Location Altai Mountains, Russia.Methods Terrestrial snail assemblages, vegetation composition and selected environmental variables were recorded at 118 sites along a gradient of climatic continentality in the Russian Altai. Habitat characteristics of sites where species typical of the full-glacial period occurred were described using a classification tree.Results Seven of the eight species that are typical of central European full-glacial loess sediments were found in the study area. They were confined to cool areas with January mean temperatures below )17°C, but occurred mainly in sheltered habitats with a warmer microclimate, such as scrub or open woodland. Pupilla loessica and Vallonia tenuilabris had the broadest habitat range, occurring from woodland to dry steppe. Unexpectedly, Columella columella, Pupilla alpicola, Vertigo genesii, V. parcedentata and V. pseudosubstriata were found mainly in wooded fens and shrubby tundra rather than in open steppe. Most of these seven species were recorded in base-rich wooded fens. Very dry open steppe habitats usually supported no snails.Main conclusions Habitat ranges of the studied snails in the Altai indicate that the full-glacial landscapes of central European lowlands that harboured these species were not completely dominated by open and dry loess steppe. Most probably they contained a significant component of shrubby vegetation, patches of wet habitats, and probably also areas of woodland at sites with a favourable mesoclimate.

The Gastrocoptinae of Australia are revised on the basis of over 13 000 specimens from nearly 600 localities. Of 23 nominal species 12 are synonymised; Gastrocopta stupefaciens, sp. nov., and G. solemorum, sp. nov., are described, making a total of 13 species. A key to the species is provided. Pumilicopta Solem, 1989 is reduced to subgeneric rank. Eleven of 13 species are endemic to Australia, one to Australia and New Guinea, and one is recorded from Australia and some Pacific islands. The gastrocoptines inhabit only coastal areas and the 'Red Centre'; only three species are exclusively southern. Relationships with extralimital taxa, based on derived characters of apertural barriers and shell sculpture, indicate that the gastrocoptines colonised Australia at least four times from Asia and adjacent islands. The first immigration may have taken place in the mid-Miocene.

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We examine variation in species richness, species composition and distance decay in similarity in forest snail faunas from Poland and a small part of Transcarpathian Ukraine, and their connection with geographical position in relation to Pleistocene refugia. Forest faunas were sampled from sites of standard size in each of ten regions. Data were analysed using DCA and partial CCA, extracting the geographical, climatic and ecological correlates with the major axes. Relationships among site and regional faunas were further examined through the Simpson Index of Similarity. Site species richness shows no significant variation with geographical position or climate, but relates to soil and vegetation characteristics. Composition varies with location; southern highland faunas differ from one another far more than do northern lowland faunas, showing a clear east-to-west pattern of change. The aggregate highland fauna is richer than that of the lowlands, which is a subset of the former. Two intermediate upland regions show different associations, one with the highlands the other with the lowlands. Lowland faunas, even over large distances, are very similar, and all relate more closely to the western end of the highlands than to the east. Disaggregating the fauna into large and small species shows that the former show a stronger geographical pattern than the latter; most universally distributed species are small. Latitudinal variation in regional richness, and longitudinal differentiation among highland faunas relate to distance from glacial refugia. This is not reflected in site species richness, raising questions about the assembly rules for local faunas. The western bias in the relationships of lowland faunas to those of the highlands, the differences between large and small species and the varying rates of faunal turnover within the area studied suggest that patterns of post-glacial dispersal are complex and incompletely understood.