At the Central European-Balkan transition: forest land snail faunas of the Banat contrasted with those of the Carpathian chain

Abstract

Twenty‐nine forest sites in six sampling areas in the Banat region of Romania, adjacent to Serbia, were sampled to obtain inventories of their snail faunas and to make comparisons between these and previously studied faunas in the mountains from the Sudetes in the north‐west to the Southern Transylvanian Carpathians in the south. 65 species were recorded overall, with between 13 and 33 at individual sites. Among the six sampling areas that on Schist rock at high altitude differed markedly from the others, and contained mainly species also found in Carpathian forests further north. The remainder, mainly on limestone, also differed among themselves, but contained more species endemic to the region or regions to the south, together with those found mainly in open rocky habitats further north. Some species and subspecies were restricted to particular areas within the region, and although ecological factors accounted for some of these differences, they did not explain all of them. The faunas were differentiated from those in the Carpathians further north, and showed a greater affinity to those from countries to the south. These patterns indicate a transition between northern regions with locally rich but regionally poor forest faunas and those of the Balkans and Mediterranean with many restricted endemics that survived the climatic fluctuations of the Pleistocene in situ. Such faunas are no richer at site level than those from further north, but differ more among themselves even when environmental conditions are similar. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, ●●, ●●–●●.

Biogeography of the Carpathians: evolutionary and spatial facets of biodiversity

“…In turn, Cameron et al . ( 2016 ) emphasize the uniqueness of the Banat region, the south‐westernmost part of the Carpathians, which represents a transition between the Carpathians snail fauna and that of the Balkans/Mediterranean region. Interestingly, the Banat snail forest fauna with southern affinities or with higher incidence of narrow endemism tended to be restricted to the limestone areas with more pronounced disturbance regime, whereas land snail assemblages more similar to those in the northern parts of the Carpathians (Cameron et al ., ) were confined mostly to siliceous bedrock and less disturbed habitats.…”

“…Three of the papers present distribution analyses that provide insights into current patterns of biodiversity in the Carpathians, their correlation with historical and environmental features, and also links with adjacent regions ( Cameron et al . , 2016 ; Iepure et al . , 2016 ; Kováč , Parimuchová & Miklisová , 2016 ).…”

Land Snail Fauna of “Porţile de Fier” (“Iron Gates”) Nature Park (Banat, Romania)

“…Helix (Helix) pomatia Linnaeus, 1758: not specifically mentioned by Grossu (1983), but common; Cameron et al (2013); present work, mostly in forests, in the eastern part of the area.…”

“…Cepaea (Austrotachea) vindobonensis (Pfeiffer, 1828): not specifically mentioned by Grossu (1983) due to its wide distribution; Cameron et al (2013); present work, a common species, present almost everywhere in the area.…”

A new, morphologically cryptic bush-cricket discovered on the basis of its song in the Carpathian Mountains (Insecta, Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae)

“…Also, the Carpathians are an important center of biodiversity that developed a characteristic biota with a high proportion of endemic taxa, due mainly to the isolation from other mountain ranges and to its archipelago-like structure, forming a series of habitat islands (Mráz and Ronikier 2016). The Eastern and Southern Carpathians proved to be biodiversity hotspots within the Carpathian Mountains, being the richest areas in endemics regarding several groups of vascular plants and invertebrates, such as arachnids, mollusks and insects (Kenyeres et al 2009, Bálint et al 2011, Theissinger et al 2013, Gajdoš et al 2014, Cameron et al 2016, Hurdu et al 2016, Mráz et al 2016). Most of these endemics are organisms with low-dispersal abilities, species likely to show stronger genetic differentiation patterns due to the absence of gene flow (Homburg et al 2013).…”