Organisms provide some of the most sensitive indicators of climate change and evolutionary responses are becoming apparent in species with short generation times. Large datasets on genetic polymorphism that can provide an historical benchmark against which to test for recent evolutionary responses are very rare, but an exception is found in the brown-lipped banded snail (Cepaea nemoralis). This species is sensitive to its thermal environment and exhibits several polymorphisms of shell colour and banding pattern affecting shell albedo in the majority of populations within its native range in Europe. We tested for evolutionary changes in shell albedo that might have been driven by the warming of the climate in Europe over the last half century by compiling an historical dataset for 6,515 native populations of C. nemoralis and comparing this with new data on nearly 3,000 populations. The new data were sampled mainly in 2009 through the Evolution MegaLab, a citizen science project that engaged thousands of volunteers in 15 countries throughout Europe in the biggest such exercise ever undertaken. A known geographic cline in the frequency of the colour phenotype with the highest albedo (yellow) was shown to have persisted and a difference in colour frequency between woodland and more open habitats was confirmed, but there was no general increase in the frequency of yellow shells. This may have been because snails adapted to a warming climate through behavioural thermoregulation. By contrast, we detected an unexpected decrease in the frequency of Unbanded shells and an increase in the Mid-banded morph. Neither of these evolutionary changes appears to be a direct response to climate change, indicating that the influence of other selective agents, possibly related to changing predation pressure and habitat change with effects on micro-climate.

The genus Montenegrina is revised on the basis of material available at the Hungarian Natural History Museum (Budapest), Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (Vienna), and the Naturmuseum Senckenberg (Frankfurt am Main), as well as newly discovered populations. The following new taxa are described: Montenegrina haringae sp. n., Montenegrina lillae sp. n., Montenegrina prokletiana sp. n., Montenegrina sturanyana sp. n., Montenegrina grammica erosszoltani ssp. n., Montenegrina grammica improvisa ssp. n., Montenegrina hiltrudae desaretica ssp. n., Montenegrina hiltrudae selcensis ssp. n., Montenegrina laxa delii ssp. n., Montenegrina nana barinai ssp. n., Montenegrina prokletiana kovacsorum ssp. n., Montenegrina rugilabris golikutensis ssp. n., Montenegrina rugilabris gregoi ssp. n., Montenegrina skipetarica danyii ssp. n., Montenegrina skipetarica gurelurensis ssp. n., Montenegrina skipetarica pifkoi ssp. n., Montenegrina skipetarica puskasi ssp. n., Montenegrina sporadica tropojana ssp. n., Montenegrina sturanyana gropana ssp. n., Montenegrina sturanyana ostrovicensis ssp. n., and Montenegrina tomorosi hunyadii ssp. n. A neotype is designated for Montenegrina helvola (Küster, 1860), and Montenegrina cattaroensis antivaricostata nom. n. was introduced to replace the junior homonym Clausilia umbilicata costata Boettger, 1907 (non Pfeiffer, 1928). Of each taxon types or specimens from the type localities are figured, and distribution maps are provided.

Whereas the vast majority of gastropods possess dextral shell and body organization, members of the Clausiliidae family are almost exclusively sinistral. Within this group a unique feature of the alpine genus Alopia is the comparable representation of sinistral and dextral taxa, and the existence of enantiomorph taxon pairs that appear to differ only in their chirality. We carried out a molecular phylogenetic study, using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences, in order to find out whether chiral inversions are more frequent in this genus than in other genera of land snails. Our results revealed multiple independent inversions in the evolutionary history of Alopia and a close genetic relationship between members of the enantiomorph pairs. The inferred COI phylogeny also provided valuable clues for the taxonomic division and zoogeographical evaluation of Alopia species. The high number of inverse forms indicates unstable fixation of the coiling direction. This deficiency and the availability of enantiomorph pairs may make Alopia species attractive experimental models for genetic studies aimed at elucidating the molecular basis of chiral stability.

With the biodiversity crisis continuing unchecked, we need to establish levels and drivers of extinction risk to effectively allocate conservation resources and develop targeted actions. Given that threat appears particularly high in freshwaters, we assessed the extinction risk of 1,500 randomly selected freshwater molluscs using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, as part of the Sampled Red List Index project. We show that close to one third of species in our sample are estimated to be threatened with extinction, with highest levels of threat in the Palearctic, Australasia and Nearctic and among gastropods. Threat levels were higher in lotic than lentic systems. Twenty-seven species were classified as Extinct (eight bivalves and 19 gastropods), mostly from the Nearctic realm and lotic systems. Pollution and the modification of natural systems (e.g. through damming and water abstraction) were the most frequently reported threats to freshwater molluscs, with some regional variation. Given that we found little spatial congruence between species richness patterns of freshwater molluscs and other freshwater taxa, new additional conservation priority areas emerge from our study. We discuss the implications of our findings for freshwater mollusc conservation and important next steps to estimate trends in freshwater mollusc extinction risk over time.

The preservation of biodiversity requires high-quality data and efficient methods for prioritizing species and sites for conservation. We examined the distribution data of 121 Hungarian land snail species in a 10 × 10 km resolution grid system. The spatial consistency of the data set varied significantly among regions, so we excluded cells with <5 species. Thus we used data from 512 out of 1052 grid cells. We prioritized Hungarian land snail species based on an additive scoring index ranging from 2 to 10 in which higher scores indicate rarer species. The index included global range size, local frequency, and a correction factor because of the biased frequency estimate or special importance of some species. We analyzed the relationship between protection status and rarity scores for each species. There were 15 unprotected species of land snails out of 30 considered rare, according to the quartile definition of rarity, and 16 protected species fell out of the score range of rare species. Four of these protected species are threatened by other than their restricted ranges (e.g., habitat loss and overexploitation). We prioritized areas by simple-ranking and complementary-areas methods based on species richness (SR), sum of rarity scores (RS), 25% rarest species richness (SQ ), and a multiple-criteria index (SSQ = SR × [SQ + 1]). In the area-selection procedures the indices based on the quartile definition of rarity (SQ and SSQ ) were slightly more efficient in representing species than species richness and sum of rarity scores. We also made regional comparisons, identified hotspots at the national scale, and investigated the overlap between hotspots and existing reserve areas. The distribution of species richness and rarity among the main geographical regions of Hungary revealed differences between lowland and highland areas. Most of the hotspots were located in the mountain areas and isolated hotspots were identified in lowland areas. All species of Hungarian land snails occurred within current protected areas, but selected hotspots did not overlap with current protected areas in all cases. The location of protected areas in Hungary is adequate to preserve land snails, although we recommend that unprotected hotspots be considered for protection. Priorización de la Conservación con Base en la Distribución de Caracoles Terrestres en HungríaResumen: La preservación de la biodiversidad requiere de datos de alta calidad y métodos eficientes para la priorización de especies y sitios para la conservación. Examinamos los datos de distribución de 121 especies de caracoles terrestres húngaros en un sistema cuadriculado de resolución de 10 × 10 km. La consistencia espacial del conjunto de datos varió significativamente entre regiones, por lo que excluimos celdas con <5 especies. Así, utilizamos datos de 512 de 1052 celdas. Priorizamos a las especies de caracoles terrestres con base en uníndice aditivo entre 2 y 10 en el que valores altos indica especies más raras. Elíndice incluyó el rango de tamaño global, la frecuencia local...