Land snails of the Shantar Islands (Sea of Okhotsk, Khabarovsk Krai)
Prozorova L.A. 1 , Bogatov V.V. 1
Year: 2026, Number: 1, Pages: 18-40
This is the first annotated list of terrestrial mollusks of the Shantar Archipelago, comprising 18 species belonging to 13 genera and 12 families of the order Stylommatophora. Paralaoma borealis (Pilsbry et Hirase, 1905), new to the Russian fauna, was previously reported from the Russian Far East as Punctum conspectum (Bland, 1865). The infraorders Pupilloidei (9 species) and Limacoidei (5 species), characterized by small size (shells 1–10 mm, body length to 15 mm), predominate in terms of species number. The malacofauna of the archipelago is distinctly boreal, representing a depleted version of the continental Okhotsk fauna; it differs by lacking larger representatives of the infraorders Helicoidei and Arionoidei, and the family Carychiidae, due to harsh climate, permafrost, and historic al catastrophic fires. The relatively high diversity and mosaic distribution of mollusks across the archipelago stem from varied shaped by complex, rugged island topography, abundant moisture, and diverse plant communities.
DOI: 10.25221/2782-1978_2026_1_2
Keywords: Bolshoy Shantar Island, Feklistova Island, land snail fauna, Stylommatophora, distribution, biotopes, biogeography,