Robert G. Forsyth

Novisuccinea strigata (L. Pfeiffer, 1855) is an arctic-boreal terrestrial mollusc that is both amphiberingian and occurring across a large area of northwestern Canada, including northern British Columbia, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. The shell, jaw, and reproductive anatomy is described from specimens collected near the Hyland River, on th...

From 2009–2014, incidental collections of terrestrial molluscs were made from the Far North of Ontario, Canada. Thirty-four species of terrestrial molluscs were identified from these collections, including one exotic species, Deroceras reticulatum, and three newly reported species from the Far North, Vallonia pulchella, Vertigo cf. genesii, and Gas...

Xerolenta obvia is a Central European land snail that has been introduced to Ontario, Canada, where it was first recorded in the literature in 1975 from a single population at Bethany (City of Kawartha Lakes). Over the four decades since that publication, additional records have been found clustered near Bethany, within the City of Kawartha Lakes,...

The geographic distribution and habitat of Patera appressa (Say, 1821) in Canada are described. This is a North American land snail native to the southern Appalachians but it has been known, since 1994, from a cluster of sites in Trenton, City of Quinte West, Ontario, where it is presumably introduced. It may no longer be extant at any of the known...

The geographic distribution of Strobilops aeneus Pilsbry, 1926, a rare species in Canada, is reviewed and all known records are mapped. Two recent records, the only ones since 1941, are reported from the province of Ontario. One of these records represents a small range extension ca. 85 km north of the closest previous site. Specimens identified as...

The correct name for a common, temperate north-western North American land snail is discussed. In a 2018 revision of the genus Vertigo O.F. Müller, 1773, “Vertigo columbiana Sterki, 1892” was used for this species by its authors, who synonymised V. andrusiana Pilsbry, 1899 with it. However, V. columbiana Sterki, 1892 is a nomen nudum and, as this n...

No comprehensive study of the terrestrial gastropod fauna of northern New Brunswick has previously been undertaken. Most terrestrial gastropod molluscs are tiny and generally live unnoticed under debris, in leaf litter, and among other dead and living vegetation. Sifting and sorting collected samples of leaf litter are effective in sampling snails....

Samples of leaf litter were collected from 22 woodland sites throughout Prince Edward Island, Canada. Eighty-two specimens belonging to 15 species of litter-dwelling land snails were recovered from 20 of the 22 samples. One-third of the species— Carychium exile H.C. Lea, 1842, Helicodiscus shimeki Hubricht, 1982, Strobilops labyrinthicus (Say, 1817...

Helicodiscus Morse, 1864 (family Helicodiscidae) is a genus of terrestrial snails with over 20 valid species (MolluscaBase 2020) and distributed almost exclusively over North America (Solem 1984). Helicodiscus theresa Thiele, 1927 has been described as native to Brazil, but herein we reassert the identity of this species as the North American Helic...

Less than 5% of the original tall grass prairie in North America remains. A portion of this remnant, composed of wetland, grassland and forest, is protected by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) in southern Manitoba. This heterogeneous ecosystem has rich biodiversity; however, gastropods have not been surveyed in Canada’s tall grass prairie. We...

We report for the first time the terrestrial slug Prophysaon andersonii (J.G. Cooper, 1872) from Quebec, Canada. Two specimens were collected in Parc national du Bic. The identification was determined by the external morphology and partial-COI gene sequence data. The genus Prophysaon is endemic to western North America, and the new record indisputa...

Populations of Roman Snail, Helix pomatia, a large European land snail, are reported for the first time in Canada from disturbed habitats in two distant locations: Sarnia, Ontario and Montrose, British Columbia. As Roman Snail is an edible species subject to international commercial trade, its deliberate, but illegal, introduction into Canada and i...

The minute terrestrial snail Vallonia costata (O. F. Müller, 1774) is reported for the first time from the province of British Columbia, Canada. The identification was based on shell morphology and confirmed by COI gene data. This species is presumed to be introduced to the province.

A seldom-collected terrestrial snail, Guppya sterkii (Dall, 1888), is recorded for the first time from an older-growth hardwood forest in rural Ottawa, eastern Ontario. This represents a range extension of roughly 175 km north-east of the nearest previously known occurrence. Its conservation status and possible threats are briefly discussed.

The Northwest Territories (NWT) is home to a diverse group of plants and animals. About 30,000 species are estimated to occur here. An important first step in safeguarding biodiversity is to increase our knowledge of each species and to provide a mechanism to monitor the conservation status of each species regularly. Monitoring the status ranks of...

First collected in North America in 1937 on the Avalon Peninsula of the Island of Newfoundland, the introduced, primarily European land snail, Discus rotundatus, has now been recorded from the Island of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia. We review all known records from Canada, demonstrate that D. rotun...

The terrestrial snail fauna in a pre-settlement soil layer, radiocarbon dated at approximately 1065–1560 years old, on the baymouth bar at Sandbanks Provincial Park, Lake Ontario, was compared with 4 nearby contemporary snail faunas from forested dunes. The pre-settlement sample differed in snail diversity, with 23 species compared with 9–20 specie...

The Chinese mystery snail, Cipangopaludina [=Bellamya] chinensis, is documented for the first time in the Saint John River, New Brunswick, a watercourse which drains the largest watershed in Atlantic Canada. This is the first non-native mollusc known to be established in the Saint John River system. Although significant ecosystem effects of the s...

Background Comprehensive biotic surveys, or ‘all taxon biodiversity inventories’ (ATBI), have traditionally been limited in scale or scope due to the complications surrounding specimen sorting and species identification. To circumvent these issues, several ATBI projects have successfully integrated DNA barcoding into their identification procedures...

There are few studies on the terrestrial molluscs of the Great Plains of Alberta. Nearly all previously published surveys have focused on the faunas of the Rocky Mountain Foothills, the Cypress Hills, the Parklands of Central Alberta, or the boreal forests. By means of hand-picking and litter samples, we surveyed for the first time the terrestrial...

The minute land snail, Carychium minimum Müller, 1774 is reported from New Brunswick, Canada. This new record further adds additional data to support the supposition that this introduced, European species is probably more widespread over temperate North America than currently known.

We report the first occurrence of Arianta arbustorum (Copse Snail) on Prince Edward Island, expanding its \veil-established presence in eastern Canada. Although listed as an exotic mollusc for which prevention of introduction to the US is a priority, the evidence from Canada to date suggests a low pest potential for this species. It is unlikely tha...

The introduced European slug Deroceras invadens Reise, Hutchinson, Schunack & Schlitt, 2011 is here reported from St. John's, Newfoundland. This new record is the first from the island of Newfoundland, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and from Atlantic Canada. It is the first verified record for this species living outside of gre...

The European terrestrial snail Trochulus striolatus (C. Pfeiffer, 1828), found at one locality in the city of Revelstoke, is newly reported from British Columbia, Canada. This record appears to be the first time that this species has been found in western North America.

Deroceras turcicum (Simroth) is reported from six woodland sites around Wa³brzych in southwest Po-land. This extension of the species' range to Poland was expected given the number of reports from adjacent areas of the Czech Republic. We collate these reports as well as local records of Deroceras praecox Wiktor, which is found in similar habitats....

The European land snail, Aegopinella nitidula (Drapamaud, 1805), is reported for the first time from British Columbia, from three sites in the city of Vancouver. These new records are the only documentation of the species in North America, except for two old records that are probably erroneous and have been ignored in recent literature. Comparisons...

The terrestrial slug Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, 1912, is reported from two sites on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, the first records for this Palaearctic species in America. This paper describes how to recognize the species, and summarizes European studies of its ecology. It is unusually wormlike in appearance, lives mostly underground, and...

The coastal land snail Cryptomastix germana, not previously known to occur north of Vancouver Island, is reported from the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia.

Introduced species of terrestrial molluscs of British Columbia were collected between 1989 and 1998. New locality records and expanded distributions are documented for seven introduced land snails. Lauria cylindracea (Chrysalis Snail), Vallonia pulchella (Lovely Vallonia), Oxychilus alliarius (Garlic Glass-snail), O. cellarius (Cellar Glass-snail),...