What`s crawling in the dark? An annotated list of gastropods in Greek caves

Greece is covered by a high percentage of carbonate rocks, resulting in a significant number of over 10,000 caves within its territory. Their fauna is not well known. Concerning gastropods, 68 terrestrial species have been reported from 70 caves. In this study, we contribute to the knowledge of the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Danae Karakasi, Kaloust Paragamian, Moissis Mylonas, Katerina Vardinoyannis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pensoft Publishers 2024-02-01
Series:Subterranean Biology
Online Access:https://subtbiol.pensoft.net/article/113383/download/pdf/
Description
Summary:Greece is covered by a high percentage of carbonate rocks, resulting in a significant number of over 10,000 caves within its territory. Their fauna is not well known. Concerning gastropods, 68 terrestrial species have been reported from 70 caves. In this study, we contribute to the knowledge of the snails inhabiting Greek caves. We analyzed the literature and studied all the material deposited in the Natural History Museum of Crete, to create a first comprehensive list of gastropods of Greek caves. The number of caves from which gastropod species were reported increased to 182, while the number of known terrestrial species increased to 113. Fourteen of these species live only in caves, twelve of which are endemic of Greece. However, the fauna of Greek caves is still understudied. With the increasing exploration of Greek caves, the number of the known cave-dwelling gastropod species will increase and new species will be discovered.
ISSN:1314-2615