A team of biologists from Masaryk University’s Faculty of Science have made a significant discovery in the field of biodiversity. As part of their long-term research into Icelandic nature, they have discovered four rare species of terrestrial snail previously unrecorded in Iceland.
“We were surprised that, despite earlier surveys, these species had not yet been recorded in Iceland. This certainly does not mean that they have only appeared there recently; they may simply have been easily overlooked. It is possible that they have been living here for thousands of years and escaped the attention of earlier naturalists before we managed to find them thanks to targeted research in peat bogs”, explained Michal Horsák, the team leader.
The research, led by zoologists from the Department of Botany and Zoology at Masaryk University, took place between 2016 and 2024 and involved collecting samples at 97 natural sites across Iceland. The newly discovered species, Carychium tridentatum, Euconulus alderi, Vertigo lilljeborgi and Vertigo substriata, were found exclusively in groundwater-fed peat bogs in the south of the island.
Although these species were discovered in Iceland, they originate from the European continent. After returning, the scientists analysed the mitochondrial DNA of the samples they had collected and proved their European origin. When explaining how small snails can travel thousands of kilometres across the ocean without human help, Michal Horsák said “they most likely got to Iceland naturally, possibly having been flown in by birds”.
The team’s research, which was conducted across the entire island, revealed significant differences between locations, with up to 14 species found in some areas and none in others. Their results showed that the differences, and the distribution of other species in Iceland, are strongly influenced by climate, with most species living in the southern part of the island and relatively few in the colder north. According to the researchers, the differences found support the hypothesis that most Icelandic terrestrial snails colonised the island after the last ice age, i.e. over the last ten thousand years.
The discovery also shows the important role played by undisturbed, long-tern stable wetland habitats as refuges where rare species can survive, even in such an extreme environment as those found in Iceland. Wetlands provide both nutrients and minerals and a stable microclimate, enabling the survival of rare and endangered species such as the dwarf land snails newly discovered in Iceland.
Photo: Michal Horsák
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