The non-marine molluscs of the country of Turkey are a part of the molluscan fauna of Turkey. The biodiversity of non-marine molluscs of Turkey is richer than in surrounding European states.[1]
There are at least 825 species of non-marine molluscs living in the wild in Turkey. An approximate guess to the total number, however, is of about 1030 non-marine molluscs in Turkey (see the table below).
There are a total of 825 species of gastropods, which breaks down to 95 (counted 80[2] "Prosobranchia" only and at least 15 other freshwater snails from this list) taxa of freshwater gastropods (including brackish water species),[2] and 730 species (and subspecies)[3] of land gastropods. There is also relevant number of freshwater bivalves living in the wild in Turkey.
According to Gümüş et al. (2009),[3] the Turkish malacofauna of land gastropods currently comprises 730 valid species and subspecies of terrestrial snails, belonging to 36 families.
Gümüş et al. (2009)[3] stated that Turkey has a very rich freshwater malacofauna with a very large proportion of endemic species.[3] Those authors estimated that Turkey is inhabited by at least 300 species of freshwater molluscs.[3]
Summary table of species in the wild of Turkey
Mollusc
Number
Freshwater gastropods
at least 95 taxa (80 species and subspecies of "Prosobranchia" include brackish waters[2] + 15 other freshwater snails from this list)
Land gastropods
730 valid species and subspecies[3] and estimation is over 1.000 including species and subspecies waiting to be recovered[3]
Total gastropods
825
Bivalves
??
non-marine molluscs
at least 825 gastropods plus unknown number of freshwater bivalves. (730[3] taxa of land gastropods + approximate guess 300[3] freshwater molluscs = gives approximate guess of about 1030 taxa of non-marine molluscs.)
There are also significant numbers of non-indigenous species, including bivalves and various synanthropic gastropods and bivalves.
Land gastropods overview
A country such as Turkey, with a highly variable relief and a diversified climate and vegetation, can support a similarly rich and diversified malacofauna of terrestrial gastropods. Consequently, the recent changes in both land use and climate (which is gradually shifting from semi-arid and winter-cold Central Turkey to a subtropical periphery with high humidity during winter) have immediately affected the malacofauna, causing area shifts following the unstable environmental conditions, including depletion or even complete loss of some populations. Increasing pasture farming leads to a loss of forest vegetation, and thus to a loss of those molluscan species which are adapted to such conditions.[3]
The recent rise of average summer temperature resulting from global warming may particularly affect the Mediterranean species.[3] Gümüş et al. (2009)[3] speculated that both the average length of the dry summer period and the absolute temperature are rising, and that the aestivation period of species adapted to the Mediterranean drought is now too long. The animals die from starvation or desiccation, and several species or subspecies may already be approaching the verge of extinction.[3]
As far as nomenclature, an average of two to three additional synonym names for each taxon are available to land gastropods in Turkey.[3]
The degree of endemism for the area of Turkey is about 65%.[3] The degree of endemism on the species level is relatively high and is comparable to that of Greece, which houses the highest number of terrestrial snail taxa in Europe, with a similarly high value of endemism.[3] In Turkey, several pulmonate families reach a maximum of biodiversity. The biodiversity has been able to develop there without any major interruptions since the Pliocene.[3]
The malacofauna of some areas, such as the inner Anatoliansteppe areas, and many of the densely forested mountain ranges, is incompletely ascertained or almost completely unknown.[3] As research progresses, records of species new to science can be expected, and the knowledge of the ranges of already-known taxa will increase. Another accretion in taxa numbers may be caused by the resolution of cryptic species clusters with the help of DNA sequencing methods, the Barcoding Project, and other related activities.[3]
History of malacozoology of terrestrial gastropods
The first species from the Turkish terrestrial malacofauna were described by Guillaume-Antoine Olivier (1756–1814), who, amongst others, collected natural history objects in the Middle East. For example he named the following species: Multidentula ovularis (Olivier, 1801) and Bulgarica denticulata (Olivier, 1801) from "Ghemlek" (= Gemlik in the Bay of Mudanya) or Assyriella guttata (Olivier, 1804) from Urfa.[5] After Olivier, the area was visited by the German Johannes Rudolf Roth and his party,[6] and then was target of other scientists, naturalists and collectors like Bellardi, Boissier, Dubois de Montpereux, Frivaldsky, Huet de Pavillon, Parreyss, Schläfli, Sievers and others. Their collections went to the most prolific malacologists interested in the area like Jules René Bourguignat, Jean de Charpentier, Heinrich Carl Küster, Johann Rudolf Albert Mousson, Ludwig Karl Georg Pfeiffer and Emil Adolf Rossmässler. In the second half of the 19th century, the famous German malacologists Oskar Boettger and Wilhelm Kobelt from the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt intensified the malacological research in Turkey, with contributions by Gottfried Nägele, Otto von Retowski and Carl Agardh Westerlund. After Kobelt’s death in 1916, the "Golden Age" of malacology was finished except for some contributions by Paul Hesse, Wassili Adolfovitch Lindholm and Otto W. von Rosen. After almost 50 years of scientific silence, it was the "Netherlands biological expedition to Turkey 1959", which again shifted the focus of malacologists to Turkey.[7] Since then, the malacological science received an enormous boost and stimulated both international as well as Turkish scientists to deepen the knowledge of the Turkish malacofauna. During this period, which now lasts about 50 years, one third of the number of taxa accepted today as valid has been added! Some of the most active contributors to this success should be mentioned here (in alphabetic order of the surnames): R. A. Bank; G. Falkner; L. Forcart; E. Gittenberger; Z. P. Erőss; Z. Fehér; B. A. Gümüş; B. Hausdorf; V. Hudec; H.P.M.G. Menkhorst; L. Németh; E. Neubert; H. Nordsieck; B. Páll-Gergely; W. Rähle; A. Riedel; H. Schütt; R. Şeşen; M.I. Szekeres; A. Wiktor and M. Z. Yıldırım.[3]
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacGümüş B. C. & Neubert E. (2009). "The biodiversity of the terrestrial malacofauna of Turkey – status and perspectives". In: Neubert E., Amr Z., Taiti S., Gümüş B (Eds.) Animal Biodiversity in the Middle East. Proceedings of the First Middle Eastern Biodiversity Congress, Aqaba, Jordan, 20–23 October 2008. ZooKeys31: 105-117. doi:10.3897/zookeys.31.169.
^(in French)Olivier G. A. (1801–1807). Voyage dans l’Empire Othoman, l’Egypte et la Perse, fait par ordre du Gouvernement, pendant les six premières années de la République. Tome premier: 432 pp. (1801); Atlas, 1st. livraison: VII pp., pl. 1–17 (1801); Tome second: 466 pp. (1804); Atlas, 2d livraison: VII pp., pl. 18–32 (1804); Tome troisième: 566 pp. (1807); Atlas, 3d livraison: VIII pp., pl. 34–50 (1807). Paris (Agasse).
^(in Latin)Roth J. R. (1839). Molluscorum species, quas in itinere per Orientem facto comites clariss. Schubert doctores M. Erdl et J.R. Roth collegerunt. Dissertatio inauguralis. München (Wolf): 26 pp., pl. 1–2.
^Anonymus (1963). "Concise survey of localities and collection numbers of zoological and botanical specimens, collected by the Netherlands biological expedition to Turkey 1959". Zoologische Mededelingen38(8): 129–151, Leiden.
^ abMehmet Zeki Yildirim, Seval Bahadir Koca, Mustafa Emre Gürlek & Peter Glöer (2018). "A new genus and a species from Turkey, Isparta felei n.gen. n.sp. (Gastropoda: Truncatelloidea: Hydrobiidae)". Ecologica Montenegrina 18: 115-119.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyMustafa Emre Gürlek (2017). "Three new truncatelloidean gastropod species from Turkey (Caenogastropoda: Littorinimorpha)". Turkish Journal of Zoology 41: 991-997. doi:10.3906/zoo-1701-37
^ abcdefghijkSerpil Odabaşı & Deniz Anıl Odabaşı (2017). "Bithynia kayrae n. sp. (Gastropoda: Bithyniidae), a new species from freshwaters of Biga Peninsula (northwestern Anatolia, Turkey)". Archiv für Molluskenkunde 146(1): 3–8.
^ abcdefgOdabaşi, Serpil; Odabaşi, Deniz Anil; Acar, Seçil (2019). "New species of freshwater molluscs from Gökçeada (northeastern Aegean Sea), Turkey (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae, Bythinellidae)". Archiv für Molluskenkunde International Journal of Malacology Band 148 Heft 2 (2019), p. 185 – 195 DOI: 10.1127/arch.moll/148/185-195
^(in German) Boeters H. D. & Falkner G. (2001). "Bythinella occasiuncula n. sp., ein neuer Kleinprosobranchier aus der Türkei (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae)". Heldia3(2/3): 51-52.
^Glöer P. & Rähle W. (2007). "Gyraulus pamphylicus n. sp. – a new species from Turkey (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Planorbidae)". Mollusca27(1): 57-60. PDF
^Neubert E., Örstan A. & Welter-Schultes F. (2000) "The land snails between Kaş and Demre, southwestern Turkey, with special reference to Albinaria (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Clausiliidae)". Basteria64: 105-123.
^ abcJozef Grego & Miklós Szekeres (2017). "Cotyorica nemethi n. gen. n. sp., a remarkable Tertiary relict of the subfamily Phaedusinae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Clausiliidae) from northern Turkey". Ecologica Montenegrina 10: 26-30.
^Gümüş B. A. (2006) "Additional data to the distribution of Papillifera papillaris (O. F. Müller, 1774) (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Stylommatophora: Clausiliidae) in Istanbul, Turkey". The Archaeo+Malacology Group Newsletter10: 4–6. http://triton.anu.edu.au/issue_10.htm
^Yıldırım M. Z. (1997). "A new subspecies of Sprattia sowerbyana O. Boettger, 1883 from Eğirdir (Turkey): Sprattia sowerbyana aksoylari nov. subsp. (Mollusca, Pulmonata, Clausiliidae)". Turkish Journal of Zoology21: 219–221, Ankara.
^ abcdPáll-Gergely B. (2010). "New and little known land snails from Turkey (Gastropoda: Pulmonata)". Zoology in the Middle East50: 89-94. Heidelberg. abstract.
^ abcdefghijklmnoHausdorf, B. (1996). "Die Orculidae Asiens (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)"]. Archiv für Molluskenkunde125 (1/2): 1-86.
^ abcHausdorf B. (2001). "The genus Ena in Turkey, with remarks on its phylogenetic relationships (Gastropoda: Buliminidae)". Journal of Natural History35(11): 1627–1638, London. PDFArchived 1 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine
^İhsan Ekin & Rıdvan Şeşen (2018). "A new record of three-band garden slug Ambigolimax valentianus (A. Férussac, 1822) (Gastropoda: Limacidae) from Turkey". Turkish Journal of Zoology 42: 475-479. doi:10.3906/zoo-1712-34
^Hausdorf B. (July 2004). "Harmozica occidentalis new species from the eastern Pontus Mountains in Turkey (Gastropoda: Hygromiidae)". Journal of Conchology38(3): 283-289. abstractArchived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^ abHausdorf, Bernhard; Gümüş, Burçin Askim; Yildirim, M. Zeki (2004). "Two new Metafruticicola species from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey (Gastropoda: Hygromiidae)". Archiv für Molluskenkunde 133(1-2): 167-171.
^Çetinkaya O. (1996). "A Freshwater Mussel Species Unio stevenianus Krynicki 1837 (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionidae) from the River Karasu Flowing into Lake Van, Turkey". Turkish Journal of Zoology20(2): 169-173. abstractArchived 22 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
^Çek Ş. & Şereflişan H. (2006). "Certain reproductive characteristics of the freshwater mussel Unio terminalis delicates (Lea, 1863) in Gölbasi Lake, Turkey". (sic!, correct: delicatus) Aquaculture Research37: 1305-1315. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2109.2006.01563.x.
Further reading
(in German) Bank R. A. & Menkhorst H. P. M. G. (1994). "Katalog der rezenten Clausiliidae (exkl. Gattung Albinaria) der Türkei (Gastropoda, Pulmonata)". Deinsea1: 85–122, Rotterdam.
Gümüş B. A. (2004). Taxonomic studies on the Clausiliidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) species distributed in Western Anatolia. PhD thesis, University of Süleyman Demirel, Isparta, Turkey.
Gümüş B. A. (2005). "The land snails (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Stylommatophora: Clausiliidae) of the ancient cities in the Marmara, the Ege (Aegean) and the Akdeniz (Mediterranean) regions of Turkey". The Archaeo+Malacology Group Newsletter7: 1–4. http://triton.anu.edu.au/issue_7.htm
Gümüş B. A. (2010). The land snails of Kâhta, Adıyaman, Turkey (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pulmonata)". Munis Entomology & Zoology5(1): 286-289. PDF.
Hausdorf B. (2000). "The genus Monacha in Turkey (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Hygromiidae). Archiv für Molluskenkunde128(1/2): 61–151, Frankfurt am Main.
Loosjes F. E. (1963). "Clausiliidae (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) collected by the Netherlands biological expedition to Turkey in 1959". Zoologische Mededelingen38 (15): 243–260, pl. 18–20, Leiden.
Nemeth L. & Szekeres M. (1995). "The systematic position of some new and little-known species of Clausiliidae from Turkey (Mollusca, Stylommatophora)". Zoology in the Middle East11: 93–108, Heidelberg.
Neubert E. (1992). "Descriptions of new taxa of the Clausiliidae from Turkey (Mollusca: Stylommatophora)". Zoology in the Middle East7: 65–86, Heidelberg.
Neubert E. (1995). "Note on some genera of Clausiliidae from Turkey (Mollusca, Stylommatophora)". Zoology in the Middle East11: 101–118, Heidelberg.
Neubert E. & Menkhorst H.P.M.G. (1994). "New taxa of Armenica (Mollusca, Stylommatophora, Clausiliidae) from Turkey". Zoology in the Middle East10: 139–159, Heidelberg.
(in German) Nordsieck H. (1993). "Türkische Clausiliidae, I: Neue Arttaxa des Genus Albinaria Vest, 1867 in Süd-Anatolien (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie A (Biologie)499: 1–31, Stuttgart.
(in German) Nordsieck H. (1994) "Türkische Clausiliidae, II: Neue Taxa der Unterfamilien Serrulininae und Mentissoideinae in Anatolien (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie A (Biologie)513: 1–36, Stuttgart.
(in German) Nordsieck H. (2004) "Türkische Clausiliidae, III: Neue Arttaxa der Unterfamilien Alopiinae und Mentissoideinae aus Anatolien (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie A (Biologie)670: 1–28, Stuttgart. PDF.
Örstan A., Yıldırım M. Z., Gümüş B.A. & Welter-Schultes F. (2005). "The land snails of the Bodrum". Mitteilungen der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft, 73/74: 1–15, Frankfurt am Main.
(in German) Riedel A. (1995). "Wenig bekannte und neue Zonitidae aus der Türkei (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)". Malakologische Abhandlungen Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden17(10): 121–136, Dresden.
(in German) Riedel A. (1989). "Zonitidae (sensu lato) des Ostpontischen Gebirges in der Türkei (Gastropoda)". Ann. Zoologici42: 363–424, Warszawa.
(in German) Schütt H. (1965). "Zur Systematik und Ökologie türkischer Süßwasserprosobranchier". Zoologische Mededelingen41(3): 43-72, Plate 1. abstract, PDF.
(in German) Schütt H. (1993). Turkische Landschnecken. Christa Hemmen, Wiesbaden.
Schütt H. (2005). Turkish land snails 1758–2005. 4th, revised and enlarged edition. Verlag Natur & Wissenschaft Solingen, 559 p.
Şeşen R. & Schütt H. (2005). "The clausilioid genus Idyla in Turkey (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Clausiliidae)". Club Conchylia Informationen37(1/2): 3–5, Ludwigsburg.
(in German) Stojaspal F. (1986). "Ein Beitrag zur Molluskenfauna der Türkei". Mitteilungen der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft38: 11–20, Frankfurt am Main.
Tillier S. P. & Mordan P. (1983). "The conchological collections of Bruguière and Olivier from the Ottoman Empire (1792–1798)". Journal of Conchology31(3): 153–161, pl. 5–7. London.
Uit De Weerd D. R. & Gittenberger E. (2005). "Towards a monophyletic genus Albinaria (Gastropoda, Pulmonata): the first molecular study into the phylogenetic position of eastern Albinaria species". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society143: 531–542, London.
Yıldırım M. Z., Kebapçı Ü. & Gümüş B. A. (2004). "Edible Snails (Terrestrial) of Turkey. Turkish Journal of Zoology28: 329–335, Ankara.
about bivalves
Şereflişan H., Şereflişan M. & Soylu S. (2009). "Description of Glochidia of Three Species of Freshwater Mussels (Unionidae) from Southeastern Turkey". Malacologia51(1): 165-172. doi:10.4002/040.051.0112.