Hartmut Nordsieck Livres

Eupulmonates, the most diverse group of land snails, require a robust taxonomic system to manage their complexity, reflecting their phylogenetic relationships. Traditionally, this system relied on morphology, but convergent evolution has limited its effectiveness. Over the past two decades, molecular studies analyzing DNA sequences have emerged as a means to uncover these relationships, although the higher costs associated with this research have led to the use of only a few gene markers. Consequently, recent molecular classifications often diverge significantly from traditional morphological systems. These new systems are based on phylogenetic gene trees, which do not account for the many genes influencing morphology and speciation. Therefore, it is essential to complement molecular findings with morphological, zoogeographical, and palaeontological research. This compilation includes articles addressing various systems: Eupulmonata, Stylommatophora (with appendices on Orthurethra and Arionoidea), the fossil record of Stylommatophora (including Vidaliellidae), Clausiliidae, and higher classification of Helicoidea. It also covers an annotated checklist of Camaenidae from East Asia, systems of Ariantinae and Murellinae, the polyphyletic nature of Cepaea, the systematic position of Helix aspersa, a new genus Amanica from Turkey, and fossil Helicoidea from western and central Europe, introducing new taxa such as Tropidomphalini.

This volume No. 12 of the „Acta Conchyliorum“ contains three contributions concerning the systematics and taxonomy of Chinese door snails (Clausiliidae).

This book contains articles on the land snail family Clausiliidae and lists of its valid taxa, parts of which have already been published in the last decades. The respective articles either give general information on the family or deal with special biological and palaeontological aspects, which are especially interesting, such as evolution and development of the closing apparatus, subspecies evolution and hybridization, mating biology and fossil record and its changes in the Tertiary and Quaternary. In other chapters problems in systematics and phylogeny of certain clausiliid groups are discussed. A chapter on practical work with Clausiliidae is also included. Coloured illustrations of the shells of representative species of all clausiliid groups give a survey of the diversity of the group and can serve as a basis for determination. In addition to this, the book contains the description of new tribes and new genus and species taxa.