The non-marine molluscs of the country of Turkey are a part of the molluscan fauna of Turkey. The biodiversity of non-marine molluscs of Turkey is richer than in surrounding European states.
There are at least 825 species of non-marine molluscs living in the wild in Turkey. An approximate guess to the total number, however, is of about 1030 non-marine molluscs in Turkey (see the table below). There are a total of 825 species of gastropods, which breaks down to 95 (counted 80 "Prosobranchia" only and at least 15 other freshwater snails from this list) taxa of freshwater gastropods (including brackish water species), and 730 species (and subspecies) of land gastropods. There is also relevant number of freshwater bivalves living in the wild in Turkey.
According to Gümüş et al. (2009), the Turkish malacofauna of land gastropods currently comprises 730 valid species and subspecies of terrestrial snails, belonging to 36 families.
Gümüş et al. (2009) stated that Turkey has a very rich freshwater malacofauna with a very large proportion of endemic species. Those authors estimated that Turkey is inhabited by at least 300 species of freshwater molluscs.
There are also significant numbers of non-indigenous species, including bivalves and various synanthropic gastropods and bivalves.
Land gastropods overview
A country such as Turkey, with a highly variable relief and a diversified climate and vegetation, can support a similarly rich and diversified malacofauna of terrestrial gastropods. Consequently, the recent changes in both land use and climate (which is gradually shifting from semi-arid and winter-cold Central Turkey to a subtropical periphery with high humidity during winter) have immediately affected the malacofauna, causing area shifts following the unstable environmental conditions, including depletion or even complete loss of some populations. Increasing pasture farming leads to a loss of forest vegetation, and thus to a loss of those molluscan species which are adapted to such conditions.
The recent rise of average summer temperature resulting from global warming may particularly affect the Mediterranean species. Gümüş et al. (2009) speculated that both the average length of the dry summer period and the absolute temperature are rising, and that the aestivation period of species adapted to the Mediterranean drought is now too long. The animals die from starvation or desiccation, and several species or subspecies may already be approaching the verge of extinction.
As far as nomenclature, an average of two to three additional synonym names for each taxon are available to land gastropods in Turkey.
The degree of endemism for the area of Turkey is about 65%. The degree of endemism on the species level is relatively high and is comparable to that of Greece, which houses the highest number of terrestrial snail taxa in Europe, with a similarly high value of endemism. In Turkey, several pulmonate families reach a maximum of biodiversity. The biodiversity has been able to develop there without any major interruptions since the Pliocene.
The malacofauna of some areas, such as the inner Anatolian steppe areas, and many of the densely forested mountain ranges, is incompletely ascertained or almost completely unknown. As research progresses, records of species new to science can be expected, and the knowledge of the ranges of already-known taxa will increase. Another accretion in taxa numbers may be caused by the resolution of cryptic species clusters with the help of DNA sequencing methods, the Barcoding Project, and other related activities.
The first species from the Turkish terrestrial malacofauna were described by Guillaume-Antoine Olivier (1756–1814), who, amongst others, collected natural history objects in the Middle East. For example he named the following species: Multidentula ovularis (Olivier, 1801) and Bulgarica denticulata (Olivier, 1801) from "Ghemlek" (= Gemlik in the Bay of Mudanya) or Assyriella guttata (Olivier, 1804) from Urfa. After Olivier, the area was visited by the German Johannes Rudolf Roth and his party, and then was target of other scientists, naturalists and collectors like Bellardi, Boissier, Dubois de Montpereux, Frivaldsky, Huet de Pavillon, Parreyss, Schläfli, Sievers and others. Their collections went to the most prolific malacologists interested in the area like Jules René Bourguignat, Jean de Charpentier, Heinrich Carl Küster, Johann Rudolf Albert Mousson, Ludwig Karl Georg Pfeiffer and Emil Adolf Rossmässler. In the second half of the 19th century, the famous German malacologists Oskar Boettger and Wilhelm Kobelt from the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt intensified the malacological research in Turkey, with contributions by Gottfried Nägele, Otto von Retowski and Carl Agardh Westerlund. After Kobelt’s death in 1916, the "Golden Age" of malacology was finished except for some contributions by Paul Hesse, Wassili Adolfovitch Lindholm and Otto W. von Rosen. After almost 50 years of scientific silence, it was the "Netherlands biological expedition to Turkey 1959", which again shifted the focus of malacologists to Turkey. Since then, the malacological science received an enormous boost and stimulated both international as well as Turkish scientists to deepen the knowledge of the Turkish malacofauna. During this period, which now lasts about 50 years, one third of the number of taxa accepted today as valid has been added! Some of the most active contributors to this success should be mentioned here (in alphabetic order of the surnames): R. A. Bank; G. Falkner; L. Forcart; E. Gittenberger; Z. P. Erőss; Z. Fehér; B. A. Gümüş; B. Hausdorf; V. Hudec; H.P.M.G. Menkhorst; L. Németh; E. Neubert; H. Nordsieck; B. Páll-Gergely; W. Rähle; A. Riedel; H. Schütt; R. Şeşen; M.I. Szekeres; A. Wiktor and M. Z. Yıldırım.
Neritidae
Theodoxus fluviatilis (Linnaeus, 1758) - Theodoxus fluviatilis fluviatilis (Linnaeus, 1789), Theodoxus fluviatilis euxinus (Clessin, 1885)
Theodoxus heldreichi (Martens, 1879) - Theodoxus heldreichi heldreichi (Martens, 1879), Theodoxus heldreichi fluvicola Schütt & Seşen, 1992
Theodoxus anatolicus (Recluz, 1841)
Theodoxus syriacus (Bourguignat, 1852)
Theodoxus altenai Schütt, 1965
Theodoxus jordani (Sowerby, 1832)
Theodoxus cinctellus (Martens, 1874)
Viviparidae
Viviparus mamillatus (Küster, 1852)
Viviparus contectus (Millet, 1813)
Viviparus viviparus costae (Mousson, 1863)
Thiaridae
Melanoides tuberculata (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Melanopsidae
Melanopsis praemorsa (Linnaeus, 1789) - Melanopsis praemorsa praemorsa (Linnaeus, 1789), Melanopsis praemorsa ferussaci Roth, 1839, Melanopsis praemorsa maximalis Schütt, 1974
Melanopsis buccinoidea (Olivier, 1801)
Melanopsis costata (Olivier, 1804) - Melanopsis costata costata (Olivier, 1804), Melanopsis costata chantrei Locard, 1921
Melanopsis nodosa Férussac, 1823
Esperiana esperi (A. Férussac, 1823)
Esperiana sangarica Schütt, 1974
Esperiana acicularis stussineri Schütt, 1974
Bithyniidae
Bithynia tentaculata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Bithynia leachii (Sheppard, 1823)
Bithynia pseudemmericia Schütt, 1964
Bithynia phialensis (Conrad, 1852)
Bithynia badiella (Küster, 1852)
Bithynia pentheri Sturany, 1905
Bithynia pesici - Note: listed by Şereflişan (2009), but not listed by Yildirim (2006)
Hydrobiidae
Potamopyrgus antipodarum J. E. Gray, 1843 - non-indigenous
Hydrobia ventrosa (Montagu, 1803)
Hydrobia stagnorum (Gmelin, 1790)
Peringia ulvae (Pennant, 1777)
Hydrobia soosi (Wagner, 1928)
Hydrobia anatolica Schütt, 1965
Pseudamnicola geldiayana Schütt, 1970
Pseudamnicola intranodosa Schütt, 1993
Pseudamnicola bilgini Schütt, 1993
Pyrgorientalia zilchi (Schütt, 1964)
Kirelia carinata Radoman, 1973
Kirelia murtici Radoman, 1973
Falsipyrgula pfeiferi (Weber, 1927)
Falsipyrgula beysehirana (Schütt, 1965)
Falsipyrgula schuetti Yildirim, 1999
Horatia parvula (Naegele, 1894)
Pseudorientalia natolica (Küster, 1852) - Pseudorientalia natolica natolica (Küster, 1852), Pseudorientalia natolica smyrnensis Schütt, 1970
Falsibelgrandiella bunarica Radoman, 1973
Tefennia tefennica Schütt & Yildirim, 2003 - Tefenni spring snail
Orientalina caputlacus Schütt, 1993
Turkorientalia anatolica Radoman, 1973
Sheitanok amidicus Schütt & Şeşen, 1991
Graecoanatolica lacustristurca Radoman, 1973
Graecoanatolica tenuis Radoman, 1973
Graecoanatolica kocapinarica Radoman, 1973
Graecoanatolica conica Radoman, 1973
Graecoanatolica brevis Radoman, 1973
Graecoanatolica pamphylica (Schütt, 1964)
Heleobia longiscata (Bourguignat, 1856)
Belgrandiella edessana Schütt, 1993
Belgrandiella cavernica Boettger, 1957
Belgrandiella adsharica (Lindholm, 1913)
Sadleriana affinis (Frauenfeld, 1863)
Sadleriana byzanthina (Küster, 1852) - Sadleriana byzanthina byzanthina (Küster, 1852), Sadleriana byzanthina demirsoyii Yildirim & Morkoyunlu, 1997
Sadleriana fluminensis (Küster, 1852)
Sadleriana minuta (Naegele, 1903)
Islamia pseudorientalica Radoman, 1973
Islamia anatolica Radoman, 1973
Islamia bunarbasa (Schütt, 1964)
Lithoglyphidae
Lithoglyphus naticoides (C. Pfeiffer, 1828)
Amnicolidae
Bythinella turca Radoman, 1976
Bythinella occasiuncula Boeters & Falkner, 2001
Bythinella sp. A - an unidentified species from Istambul sensu Yildirim (2006)
Assimineidae
Paludinella littorina (delle Chiaje, 1828)
Valvatidae
Valvata cristata O. F. Müller, 1774
Valvata saulcyi Bourguignat, 1853
Valvata macrostoma (Mörch, 1864)
Valvata piscinalis (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Borysthenia naticina (Menke, 1845)
(All species above this line are freshwater "Prosobranchia".)
Cochliopidae
Heleobia contempta (Dautzenberg, 1894) / Semisalsa contempta (Dautzenberg, 1894)
Heleobia longiscata (Bourguignat, 1856) / Semisalsa longiscata (Bourguignat, 1856)
Planorbidae
Anisus leucostoma (Millet, 1813)
Anisus spirorbis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Anisus vortex (Linnaeus, 1758)
Anisus vorticulus (Troschel, 1834)
Gyraulus albus (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Gyraulus euphraticus (Mousson, 1874)
Gyraulus laevis (Alder, 1838)
Gyraulus pamphylicus Glöer & Rähle, 2007
Gyraulus parvus (Say, 1817)
Gyraulus piscinarum (Bourguignat, 1852)
Lymnaeidae
Radix auricularia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Radix peregra (O. F. Müller, 1774) - synonym: Radix labiata (Rossmässler, 1835)
Ellobiidae
Myosotella myosotis (Draparmaud, 1801) - semi-marine
Land gastropods
Species of gastropods of Turkey include:
Ellobiidae
Leucophytia bidentata (Montagu, 1808) - semi-marine species
Pyramidulidae
Pyramidula cephalonica (Westerlund, 1898)
Pyramidula chorismenostoma (Westerlund & Blanc, 1879)
Clausiliidae
175 species of Clausiliidae in Turkey. Turkey is home to 95% of the subfamily Mentissoideinae.
Pontophaedusa funiculum (Mousson, 1856)
Bulgarica denticulata (Olivier, 1801)
Papillifera bidens (Linnaeus, 1758) - synonym: Papillifera papillaris (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Sprattia sowerbyana O. Boettger, 1883
Albinaria latelamellaris Neubert, Örstan & Welter-Schultes, 2000
Pupillidae
Pupilla triplicata (Studer, 1820)
Orculidae
41 species of Orculidae in Turkey
Alvariella
Alvariella multiplicata Hausdorf 1996
Orcula
Orcula zilchi Urbański, 1960
Orculella
Orculella bulgarica bulgarica (P. Hesse 1915)
Orculella bulgarica lamellata Hausdorf, 1996
Orculella critica Hausdorf, 1996
Orculella garzanensis Schütt, 1996
Orculella? heterostropha commagenensis (Neubert, 1988)
Orculella? heterostropha heterostropha (O. Boettger, 1905)
Orculella ignorata Hausdorf, 1996
Orculella menkhorsti menkhorsti Hausdorf, 1996
Orculella menkhorsti sinistrorsa Hausdorf, 1996
Orculella mesopotamica mesopotamica (Mousson, 1874)
Orculella mesopotamica riedeli Hausdorf, 1996
Orculella orientalis (L. Pfeiffer 1861)
Orculella? palatalis (Pilsbry 1922)
Orculella pfeiferi Hausdorf 1996
Orculella ruderalis urartaeica Hausdorf 1996
Orculella sirianocoriensis libanotica (Tristram 1865)
Pilorcula Germain, 1912
Pilorcula trifilaris anatolica Hausdorf, 1996
Pilorcula trifilaris longior Hausdorf, 1996
Schileykula
Schileykula aculeata E. Gittenberger & Menkhorst, 1993
Schileykula attilae Páll-Gergely, 2010
Schileykula batumensis (Retowski, 1889)
Schileykula inversa Schütt, 1993
Schileykula nordsiecki Hausdorf, 1996
Schileykula (?) robusta (Nägele, 1910)
Schileykula scyphus cilicica Hausdorf, 1996
Schileykula scyphus enteroplax (Pilsbry, 1922)
Schileykula scyphus erecta Hausdorf, 1996
Schileykula scyphus lycaonica Hausdorf, 1996
Schileykula scyphus scyphus (L. Pfeiffer, 1848)
Schileykula sigma Hausdorf, 1996
Schileykula trapezensis acampsis Hausdorf, 1996
Schileykula trapezensis contraria Neubert, 1993
Schileykula trapezensis neuberti Hausdorf, 1996
Schileykula trapezensis trapezensis (Stojaspal, 1981)
Sphyradium
Sphyradium doliolum (Bruguière, 1792)
Enidae
Enormous radiation of the family Enidae on the Macaronesian Islands: 115 species of Enidae in Turkey
Multidentula ovularis (Olivier, 1801)
genus Ena: 3 species in Turkey
Ena nogellii (Roth, 1850) - synonym: Buliminus ponticus Retowski, 1886
Ena menkhorsti Hausdorf & Bank, 2001
Ena dazimonensis Hausdorf & Bank, 2001
Chondrula lycaonica (Sturany, 1904)
Chondrula orientalis (Pfeiffer, 1848)
Chondrula sturmii (Küster, 1852)
Chondrula werneri (Sturany, 1902)
Imparietula ridvani Schütt, 1995
Oxychilidae
45 species of Oxychilidae in Turkey
Nastia viridula Riedel, 1989 - north-eastern Turkey
Zonitidae
Zonites algirus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Trigonochlamydidae
Drilolestes retowskii (O. Boettger, 1884)
Selenochlamys pallida O. Boettger, 1883
Trigonochlamys imitatrix O. Boettger, 1881
Milacidae
Tandonia budapestensis (Hazay, 1880)
Agriolimacidae
Deroceras turcicum (Simroth, 1894)
Helicodontidae
Lindholmiola lens (Férussac, 1832)
Hygromiidae
Turkey has 112 species of Hygromiidae and it is strong for several endemic genera of Hygromiidae.
Harmozica occidentalis Hausdorf, 2004
Monacha oecali Hausdorf & Páll-Gergely, 2009
Monacha georgievi Páll-Gergely, 2010
Helicidae
Turkey has 52 species of the subfamily Helicinae.
Assyriella guttata (Olivier, 1804)
Unionidae
Unio stevenianus Krynicki, 1837
Unio terminalis - Unio terminalis delicatus (Lea, 1863)
