Non-marine molluscs of the island of Brač (Croatia) – when can the island be considered explored?

Authors and affiliation

• Lucie Juřičková Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-128 44 Praha 2, Czech Republic
• Luboš Beran Regional Office Kokořínsko – Máchův kraj Protected Landscape Area Administration, Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, Česká 149, CZ-276 01 Mělník, Czech Republic
• Petr Kment Department of Entomology, National Museum of the Czech Republic, Cirkusová 1740, CZ-193 00 Praha – Horní Počernice, Czech Republic

Abstract

Seventy-nine species of terrestrial, freshwater and brackish water molluscs were found on the island of Brač during our long-term field survey and literature review. The species diversity on Brač is the highest among the Croatian islands surveyed. The current occurrence of rare species and species with small ranges is commented on in more detail. Twenty-two taxa are newly recorded for the island, and two of them (Lucilla scintilla (T.R. Lowe, 1852) and Limax wohlberedti Simroth, 1900) are the first confirmed records in Croatia. Only four historically published taxa from the island were not confirmed by our fieldwork, three of them living in caves we did not visit. Most of the recorded species have small ranges in the Mediterranean; according to current knowledge, two species are endemic to Brač, Medora hiltrudae Nordsieck, 1970 and Tandonia bolensis De Mattia & Nardi, 2014. As there is a lot of confusion in the identification of Mediterranean fauna, we created ample photographic documentation of the species found. Although we found most of the species in the first three years of our research, new species were added almost every year during the thirteen years of fieldwork.

Keywords

Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Brač Island, Adriatic, faunistics

PDF File

• Download Publication