IMIS - Marine Research Groups

Each taxon is accompanied by a full citation of its original description. Where the information is available, reference to page number and illustration are provided. First descriptions available as open-access full-text sources on the web were linked via hyperlink to the first page of the publication. Additionally, citations to the source of the record and its current status are provided. The data are based on an in-depth literature review and the investigation of selected faunas within the study area. Many taxa have been rarely studied again since their first description and are poorly documented - while some obviously erroneously placed taxa are revised, this is not a critical revision of all the species. Instead it presents the current status of knowledge as documented by the most recent paper available on each included taxon (Neubauer et al. 2014a). For the numerous homonyms discovered replacement names were established (Neubauer et al. 2014b, c).
This database was compiled within the project "Freshwater systems in the Neogene and Quaternary of Europe: Gastropod biodiversity, provinciality, and faunal gradients" funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (Project no. P25365-B25) und the leadership of Mathias Harzhauser (NHM Vienna).
Apart from the editor, Mathias Harzhauser, Elisavet Georgopoulou and Oleg Mandic (all NHM Vienna) assisted in data collection, while Andreas Kroh (NHM Vienna) was responsible for database design, development and nomenclatorial issues.
The project covers Neogene freshwater gastropod species from all over Europe, including some eastern sites on the border between Europe and Asia. The following map shows an overview on the sites for which freshwater gastropods have been reported, the stratigraphic chart shows the geological timeframe of the data. Detailed locality data, including revised stratigraphic attributions will be provided in a forthcoming paper (Neubauer et al. submitted).
This project will be the first detailed assessment of the composition of European freshwater gastropods during the Neogene and Quaternary at species, genus and family levels, with emphasis on lake faunas. Biodiversity and composition of Holocene lake faunas seem to be strongly influenced by the Quaternary Ice Ages. Several short-lived Miocene lakes, however, are strikingly “modern” in their generic inventory and genus/species relations, suggesting that the modern composition is not necessarily a young pattern, explained only by the glacial bottleneck. In contrast, the modern long-lived lakes of Europe host gastropod assemblages with high endemicity and striking similarities with pre-Pleistocene lake faunas. The origin of these modern faunas, however, is still enigmatic.
A major aim is to map and define a statistics-based Pan-European biogeography and palaeobiogeography of Neogene to Quaternary freshwater systems. The data will be a solid base to estimate the (future) anthropogenic impact on Holocene lake faunas.