ACTA ZOOLOGICA BULGARICA Zoogeography and Faunistics Acta zool. bulg., 70 (4), 2018: 469-477 Research Article Diversity of Terrestrial Gastropods (Molluscsa, Gastropoda) in the Prespa National Park, Albania Ivaylo K. Dedov1*, Zoltán Fehér2,3, Miklós Szekeres4 & Ulrich E. Schneppat5 1 Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Gagarin Street, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria; E-mail: [email protected] 2 Natural History Museum, Vienna, 3rd Zoological Department, Burgring 7, A-1010, Vienna, Austria 3 Hungarian Natural History Museum, Baross 13, H-1088 Budapest, Hungary; E-mail: [email protected] 4 Institute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Centre, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Temesvari krt. 62, H-6726 Szeged, Hungary; E-mail: [email protected] 5 Sennereiweg 8, CH-7074 Churwalden-Malix, Switzerland; E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: In total, 51 terrestrial gastropod taxa are recorded from the Prespa National Park, Albania. Seven species are local endemics for the region of Lake Prespa and adjacent mountains, eight are West-Balkan endemics and seven are Balkan endemics. There are no species considered threatened according to the IUCN cat- egories and only one species, Orcula wagneri, is in the category Near Threatened. Of the habitats studied, limestone rocks and rocky grasslands are the most important for the diversity of the gastropods in the region. Key words: Albania, Prespa National Park, terrestrial gastropod fauna, distribution Introduction The Prespa National Park is included in the network Previous studies have recorded 13 terrestrial gas- of protected territories in Albania and is an integral tropod species and subspecies from the the territory of component of the planned large trans-boundary con- the Prespa National Park and its vicinity: Helix schlae- servation area occupying the Lake Prespa drainage flii, Lindholmiola corcyrensis, Lindholmiola lens (A. basin situated in Albania, Greece and the Republic Ferrusac, 1832), Monacha frequens, Montenegrina of Macedonia. These states have declared their will- dofleini dofleini, M. d. prespaensis, M. d. wagneri, M. ingness and commitment to unite their efforts in or- hiltrudae costulata, M. h. desaretica, M. h. fusca, M. der to protect the unique natural values of the two h. sattmanni, Zebrina detrita and Wladislawia tha- lakes, Great Prespa Lake and Small Prespa Lake, and teensis (Dhora & Welter-Schultes 1996, Welter- the surrounding mountainous ecosystems on Mali i Schultes 1996, Fehér & Drimmer 2004, Erőss et al. Thatë (Galichica), Suva Gora and Pelister Mountains 2006, Nordsieck 2008, Subai 2012, Neubert 2014, (Hristovski et al. 2014). Comprehensive informa- Fehér & Szekeres 2016). tion on the diversity and the conservation status of The aim of the present article is to provide a the terrestrial invertebrate fauna in this region is survey of the diversity of the terrestrial gastropods of lacking. It has been predicted that the invertebrate the Prespa National Park (Albania) by sampling and fauna of the Prespa National Park in Albania is di- identification of new collections and summarising verse, with some species being important from the published data, to estimate the conservation value conservation point of view, including many endemic of the malacofauna in the region and to identify the and relict taxa (Hristovski et al. 2014). most important habitats for terrestrial molluscs. *Corresponding author: [email protected] 469 Dedov I. K., Z. Fehér, M. Szekeres & U. E. Schneppat Materials and Methods The materials were collected at 41 localities (Table 1, Fig. 1) between 2007 and 2016 in the course of vari- ous field trips. Hand-collecting and the soil-sifting methods were used. The gastropods were preserved in 70% ethanol or kept as dry shells in the collec- tions of the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (IBER-BAS), the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest (HNHM) and the Natural History Museum, Vienna (NHMW). The morphological and anatomical examinations were carried out using ster- eomicroscope. Results The present study adds 39 species newly re- corded for the territory of the Prespa National Park (Albania) and, with the present publications, 51 mol- lusks taxa are known for the region (Table 2). One species (Lindholmiola lens) was not confirmed. Several species of high importance for biodiversity conservation were found. Seven gastropods are lo- cal endemics for the region of Lake Prespa and ad- jacent mountains, eight are West-Balkan endemics and seven are Balkan endemics. Only one species, Orcula wagneri, is included in IUCN categories for threatened species as Near Threatened. Out of the species recorded, 19 were collected Fig. 1. Sampling localities in the Prespa National Park, nearby Lake Prespa only from altitudes between 850 Albania. Numbers correspond to those in Table 1. and 900 m (Oxyloma elegans, Lauria cylindracea, Pyramidula cephalonica, P. pusilla, Truncatellina wagneri, Montenegrina dofleini dofleini, M. d. wag- claustralis, T. cylindrica, T. rothi, Jaminia quad- neri, M. hiltrudae fusca, Tandonia macedonica, ridens, Cecilioides acicula, Montenegrina dofleini Limax cf. graecus, L. cf. maximus and Wladislawia prespaensis, M. hiltrudae desaretica, Mediterranea thateensis). inopinata, Tandonia sp., Oligolimax sp., aff. Although the forest in the Prespa National Park Semilimacella, Limacus flavus, Limax cf. cone- is growing on limestone, it has not been proved as a menosi, L. cf. corcyrensis and Cernuella virgata). habitat especially rich in terrestrial gastropod species Twenty-one species occurred in the vicinity between by the present study. Only three species were found the lake and the rocks and rocky pastures above the in such habitats and one of them (Lauria cylindracea) forest zone of the mountains at altitudes 850 – above occurred also in Buxus sempervirens shrublands and 2200 m (Chondrina arcadica, Chondrula macedon- highly degraded and modified Querco-Carpinetum ica, C. microtragus, Merdigera obscura, Zebrina orientalis forest around Lake Prespa (Table 3). detrita, Alinda biplicata distincta, Montenegrina hiltrudae costulata, M. h. sattmanni, Strigilodelima conspersa, Vitrea cf. botterii, Mediterranea sp., Discussion Morlina glabra, Vitrina sp., Lehmannia cf. brunneri, The biodiversity value of the terrestrial gastropod Lindholmiola corcyrensis, Candidula rhabdotoides, fauna of the Prespa National Park (Albania) is high, Monacha frequens, Xerolenta obvia, Helix lucorum, though its relatively small territory (277.5 km2): 51 H. philibinensis and H. schlaeflii). Nine further spe- terrestrial gastropods have been found up to now, cies were typical for the highest limestone areas of including a high number of endemics – 22 species the mountains (900 – above 2200 m a.s.l.) and did or 43% (Table 2). According to our results, lime- not occur near the lake (Cochlostoma sp., Orcula stone rocks and rocky grasslands are the most im- 470 Diversity of Terrestrial Gastropods (Molluscsa, Gastropoda) in the Prespa National Park, Albania Table 1. Localities (Prespa National Park), Abbreviation: Coll. No. – catalog number of the collection of Institute of Biodiversity and General Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBER, BAS); HNHM – collection of the Hungarian National History Museum; NHMW – collection of the Natural History Museum, Vienna. Altitude № Coll.No Localities Coordinates N/E Habitats (m) Korcë District, at Liqeni i Prespës (= Great Prespa Lake shore), vill. Kallamas (= vill. Tuminec), limestone rocks with bushes (Pruno webbii–Ju- 1 20412 24 V 2013, leg. Dedov; 17 X 2014, leg. Fehér, Haring, Jaksch, Sattmann; 29 VI 2015, leg. Erőss, 40.8919° 20.9395° 850-856 niperetum excelsae) Fehér, Grego 2 20413 Korcë District, at Liqeni i Prespës (=Great Prespa Lake shore), 24 V 2013, leg. Dedov 40.8720° 20.9260° 855 limestone rocks with bushes 3 20414 Korçë District, vill. Gorica e Madhe (= vill. Gorna Gorica), near church, 24 V 2013, leg. Dedov 40.8934° 20.9017° 921 open terrain 20415 Mali i Thatë (= Suva Gora Mts.), near the Macedonian border, S of the border-crossing „Subo- rocky limestone meadow between forests of 4 40.9098° 20.8950° 975 20416 tino“, 25 V 2013, 24 VI 2013, leg. Dedov Quercus frainetto and Quercus cerris 20417 5 Mali i Thatë (= Suva Gora Mts.), 25 V 2013, 24 VI 2013, leg. Dedov 40.8980° 20.8647° 1311 Festuco heterophyllae-Fagetum, under log 20418 20419 limestone meadow with scattered bushes and 6 Mali i Thatë (= Suva Gora Mts.), “Pikina Voda” area, 25 V 2013, 24 VI 2013, leg. Dedov 40.9055° 20.8541° 1565 20420 trees 7 20421 Mali i Thatë (= Suva Gora Mts.), “The tower of the war” area, 25 V 2013, leg. Dedov 40.9122° 20.8498° 1736 alpine rocky limestone meadow 8 20422 Mali i Thatë (= Suva Gora Mts.), 25 V 2013, leg. Dedov 40.9106° 20.8477° 1731 Fagus forest Korcë District, at Liqeni i Prespës (= Great Prespa Lake shore), yard of the Administration of 9 20423 40.8818° 20.9207° 866 meadow Prespa National Park, 26 V 2013, leg. Dedov Korcë District, at Liqeni i Prespës së Vogël (= Lesser Prespa Lake), vill. Tren, in front of the cave 10 20424 40.6722° 20.9868° 856 limestone rocks „Shpela e Trenit“, 26 V 2013, leg. Dedov 20425 Korcë District, at Liqeni i Prespës së Vogël (= Lesser Prespa Lake), between vill. Shuec and vill. 11 40.6847° 20.9984° 863-930 Buxus sempervirens on limestone rock-base 20426 Tren, bank of the lake, 26 V 2013, 24 VI 2013, leg. Dedov; 13 V 2016, leg. Paparisto Korcë District, at Liqeni i Prespës së Vogël (=Lesser Prespa Lake), „Rakcko“ area, 26 V 2013, 12 20427 40.7245° 20.9768° 1109 limestone pasture with scattered bushes leg. Dedov 20428 Korcë District, at Liqeni i Prespës (= Great Prespa Lake shore), vill. Glloboçeni (= vill. Globo- 13 40.8574° 20.9429° 865 limestone rocks 20429 cheni), 26 V 2013, 23-25 VI 2013, leg. Dedov Buxus sempervirens shrubland (highly degraded Korcë District, at Liqeni i Prespës (=Great Prespa Lake shore), near vill. Zaroshkë (= vill. Zrnos- 868 14 20430 40.7668° 20.9277° and modified Querco-Carpinetum orientalis for- ko), Ralnik area, 27 V 2013, leg. Dedov est) on limestone rocks Korcë District, at Liqeni i Prespës (= Great Prespa Lake shore), near the church of St.