Abstrakt
Quaternary changes in species range limits are essential to comprehend the dynamic range of species distributions. Preserved shells of land snails allow us to supplement molecular phylogeography data with physical evidence of their past distributions and reconstruct the range dynamics.
Monachoides incarnatus is an abundant euryvalent land snail limited from east and west to Central Europe. In the quaternary paleoreconstruction it is used as one of the important indicators of the forest.
In the Holocene, however, M. incarnatus adapted very well to human influence and is able to use substitute semi-ruderal sites in urban and suburban zones. We aim to identify the glacial refugia and directions of postglacial colonization.
The first results of phylogenetic analyses (COI mitochondrial gene) of M. incarnatus indicate the origin and glacial refugia south of the Alps and colonization of the Czech Republic by two groups - distributed predominantly in the west and south-east of its range, respectively. Also, it appears that the Balkan part of its range is a result of colonization from the north.
In combination with results of a previous study on Helix pomatia, the project promises the first interspecific comparison of phylogeographic histories of Central-European land snails with similar distributions and ecological requirements.