AN UPDATED ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF THE MOLLUSCS OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

An updated annotated checklist of the molluscs of the Republic of Moldova is provided. It includes 155 species: 26 bivalves, 45 freshwater gastropods and 84 terrestrial gastropods. Some species such as Truncatellina claustralis, Granaria frumentum, Perpolita petronella and Tandonia kusceri are reported for the first time from Moldova by original data. A number of unclear species reports are discussed.


INTRODUCTION
The first annotated checklist of the molluscs of the Republic of Moldova, which included 112 species, was published recently (COADÃ & WELTER-SCHULTES 2011), but unfortunately some literature data were overlooked and this list was incomplete.Moreover, some unpublished data from collection material became available in the last few years.This created a need to update that previous checklist.Our new checklist includes 155 species: 26 bivalves, 45 freshwater gastropods and 84 terrestrial gastropods.
Since views on taxonomy of the freshwater molluscs are quite controversial, we follow here mainly a recent guide of European non-marine molluscs (WELTER-SCHULTES 2012) to make the list better available to the European reader.A list of the freshwater molluscs of the Republic of Moldova in the classification applied by the Russian malacologists of Starobogatov's school was published recently and included 100 species (MUNJIU 2012).We did not try to make any nomenclatural revision here, but intended only to adapt this list of 100 species for the European reader.Since STAROBOGATOV and his followers frequently use specific names not in the sense of their original authors (for most complete list see: STARO-BOGATOV et al. 2004), we could not just list these additional names as synonyms of recognised species.Many of these names are not synonyms in the taxonomic sense (which would require studying the type material), but only synonyms in the sense of these authors.We can only suggest from our experience which species can more likely be understood or determined under these names.Names that are marked by "auctorum non..." refer to a synonym in the sense of some authors (here mainly STAROBOGATOV and his followers) but not the author of the species name.However many of these names are nomina dubia without types and we did not study this problem in detail, so it is also possible that some of these names are actually correct synomyms in the sense of their authors.For this reason we mark such names with "auct.non [?] ...".
Species that were not given in the previous checklist (COADÃ & WELTER-SCHULTES 2011) are highlighted in bold.We mention only those synonyms which have been in use in Moldova over the last several years.

DISCUSSION
Besides the listed species several names of marine and brackish water forms such as Turricaspia variabilis (Eichwald, 1838), T. pseudotriton (Golikov et Starobogatov, 1966), T. limanica (Golikov et Starobogatov, 1966), Caspia gmelinii Clessin et Dybowski, 1888, C. knipowitchi Makarov, 1938, C. makarovi (Golikov et Starobogatov, 1966), Caspiohydrobia eichwaldiana (Golikov et Starobogatov, 1966), Ecrobia ventrosa (Montagu, 1803), Hydrobia acuta (Draparnaud, 1805) and Cerastoderma lamarcki (Reeve, 1845) were reported from the Republic of Moldova (GONTYA 1985, MUNJIU 2012).However these reports may refer to the Dniester Liman in Ukraine or could be based on fossil shells or shells that were occasionally transferred to Moldova by birds or man.Moreover the taxonomic status of some of these forms is unclear and we did not verify their determinations.Marine ecosystems are absent in Moldova.The only brackish water body in Moldova is the Kuchurhan Liman.The Moldavian border is adjacent to the Dniester Liman in Ukraine, but it does not touch it.Some brackish water species invaded the Dniester River in Moldova.In 1964 the Kuchurhan Liman was turned into a cooling reservoir of a Moldavian power station, so it is regulated and polluted.Currently Ponto-Caspian molluscs of Hydrobiidae and Cardiidae are receding and rare in Kuchurhan, some species are probably extinct, others are threatened in Moldova.Several more mollusc species were listed for the Republic of Moldova in some respectable official websites.However no references were established.It is possible that these reports were based on the confusion with Moldova, a historical region in adjacent Romania (today officially called the "Principality of Moldavia")."Moldova" was used in the titles of several papers about molluscs of Romania only.
From our observations at least some terrestrial species such as Pomatias rivularis, Platyla polita, Vertigo moulinsiana, Truncatellina claustralis, Granaria frumentum, Serrulina serrulata, Ruthenica filograna, Macrogastra borealis and Discus perspectivus are threatened in the Republic of Moldova and should be included in the official national Red List, the Red Book of Moldova.The problems of mollusc conservation in Moldova should be studied separately and in detail, this has not been done yet.
It has not been reported in the literature.There is one shell in the material of A. BAIDASHNIKOV from the hornbeam-oak forest in the Codry Nature Reserve (collection of Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, Kiev).It was also found by V. COADÃ near Soroca city (northern Moldova, material in private collection).
, MUNJIU & SHUBERNETSKI 2010, COADÃ & WELTER-SCHULTES 2011, WELTER-SCHULTES 2012), but in the opinion of some authors (ANISTRATENKO et al. 1999, SON 2010) an endemic species, Theodoxus donasteri (Lindholm, 1908) lives in the northern basin of the Black Sea.According to these authors, reports of T. danubialis and maybe of some other species refer to this endemic.The last revision of T. danubialis provided no data about its occurrence in the Dniester and lower sections of other Ponto-Caspian rivers (BUNJE 2007).Some recent preliminary molecular data partly supported a separation of T. donasteri (see BUNJE 2005, SEREDA et al. 2007).More research is needed to clarify the taxonomic status of this species.A recent report of the marine species Theodoxus pallasi Lindholm, 1924 (see MUNJIU 2012) requires confirmation for Moldova, where no marine ecosystems exist (see discussion below).The Theodoxus species of Moldova require a revision.Theodoxus euxinus (Clessin, 1886) This brackish water species is present in the marine part of the Dniester Liman, but its occurrence in the Moldavian part of the Dniester River (MUNJIU & SHUBERNETSKI 2010, MUNJIU 2012) requires confirmation.It is possible that fossil shells were involved or that this occurrence was a result of casual transfer by birds or man.Theodoxus fluviatilis (Linnaeus, 1758) Theodoxus transversalis (Pfeiffer, 1828) Agriolimacidae Wagner, 1935 Deroceras agreste (Linnaeus, 1758) Deroceras laeve (Müller, 1774) Deroceras reticulatum (Müller, 1774) Deroceras sturanyi (Simroth, 1894)Deroceras turcicum(Simroth, 1894)Occurring in the Codry Nature Reserve (BAIDA-SHNIKOV 1993).