Shell colour and banding polymorphism in <i>Cepaea nemoralis</i>(Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Helicidae) from the Moscow region

Abstract

The shell colour and banding were analyzed in more than 2000 specimens of Cepaea nemoralis collected in 11 localities in Moscow and the Moscow region. In the colonies studied, snails with pink shells usually predominate, most often represented by the phenotype 00000 (complete absence of the spiral bands). In most cases, yellow unbanded shells were absent or represented by single specimens. Brown shells, almost exclusively unbanded, were found only in 5 sites. On the example of colonies from Zagoryanski and Buch (Berlin), as well as Sheremetievski and Dolgoprudnyi, the phenotypic composition of newly formed colonies and colonies that could have been their origins was compared. A decrease in phenotypic diversity of newly formed colonies was noted.