THE FIRST RECORD OF CEPAEA NEMORALIS (LINNAEUS, 1758) (MOLLUSCA: GASTROPODA: HELICIDAE) IN THE DONBASS AND THE PHENETIC STRUCTURE OF THE FOUND COLONY

Abstract

The phenetic composition of Cepaea nemoralis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Helicidae) colony found in an area of continuous high-rise buildings in the center of Donetsk in 2022 is described. The area of the colony is 2.5 ha, the number reaches 15 ind./m2, the age is at least 10 years. Individuals with a pink ground colours (81.5%) and one central band in 64.7% of yellow-coloured and 76.8% of pink-coloured shells are clearly dominated. The absence of unbanded shells and shells with reduced 1, 2, 4 and 5 bands was a distinctive feature of the Donetsk colony. The trend of dominance of phenotypes with fused bands is traced for five-banded shells with the relative frequency of 69.7%. Morphs with fusion types of bands, namely F(45) - 13.2% and F(23) - 12.8% dominate. The colony is characterized by a relatively high degree of polymorphism (𝜇 = 4.78±0.039) and proportion of rare morphs (h±𝑆ℎ = 0.47±0.026) showing no similarities with the colonies in Eastern Europe available for meta-analysis. Cepaea nemoralis is likely to remain one of the elements in the urban fauna, not showing any tendency to expand into natural ecosystems.