Diversity and body-size patterns of land snails in rain forests in Uganda

Abstract

We investigated land-snail faunas of rain forests along the Albertine Rift Valley and the Lake Victoria forest belt in Uganda. Sixty plots in 13 forests were studied, covering low altitude to montane forest types ranging in altitude from 680 to 2,770 m. Approximately 16,000 specimens were collected and assigned to 169 species. Species richness ranged from 5 to 44 (mean 26.1) at plot level, and from 33 to 69 (mean 51.5) at forest level. Fifty-one species were new records for Uganda. The degree of endemism is correlated with altitude and the area of the forests. The snail assemblages are usually dominated by just one or a few species. The number of carnivorous snail species is correlated with the total number of snail species in a forest. The major shell dimension of the majority of the species is <5 mm.