New records of the Mediterranean land snail Massylaea vermiculata (O. F. Müller, 1774) in Hungary and Slovakia

Abstract

The Mediterranean Massylaea vermiculata (O. F. Müller) is reported from Slovakia for the first time (two sites), and from Hungary for the first time since the 1980 record. There is a reason to suspect the existence of further, yet undetected, specimens or even populations in Central Europe. Based on the dynamics of similar invasions of terrestrial molluscs, we expect that in 2–3 decades the species may become locally abundant and widespread in both the Hungarian and the Slovak capitals.

Full text

FOLIA
MALACOLOGICA
The Association of Polish Malacologists
Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University
Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe
Poznań, December 2020
ISSN 1506-7629 (print)•ISSN 2300-7125 (on-line)
https://doi.org/10.12657/folmal.028.021
Folia Malacol. 28(4): 337–341
SHORT COMMUNICATION
NEW RECORDS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN LANDSNAIL
MASSYLAEA VERMICULATA (O. F. MÜLLER, 1774)
INHUNGARY AND SLOVAKIA
Barna Páll-GerGely1, Zoltán Fehér2, Tomáš Čejka3*
1Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Herman Ottó Street 15, Budapest, H-1022,
Hungary (e-mail: pallgergely2@gmail.com); https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6167-7221
2Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, H-1088 Baross u 13, Budapest, Hungary
(e-mail: feher.zoltan@nhmus.hu); https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4888-1156
3Institute of Botany, Plant Science and Biodiversity Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta9,
SK-84523 Bratislava, Slovakia (e-mail: t.cejka@gmail.com); https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6485-5660
*corresponding author
aBstract: The Mediterranean Massylaea vermiculata (O. F. Müller) is reported from Slovakia for the rst
time (two sites), and from Hungary for the rst time since the 1980 record. There is a reason to suspect the
existence of further, yet undetected, specimens or even populations in Central Europe. Based on the dynamics
of similar invasions of terrestrial molluscs, we expect that in 2–3 decades the species may become locally
abundant and widespread in both the Hungarian and the Slovak capitals.
key words: introduced species; alien species; non-indigenous species; overwintering
For the last three decades Central Europe has ex-
perienced an increasing number of invasions of terres-
trial animals, particularly molluscs (snails and slugs).
In that period, 15 non-native terrestrial mollusc spe-
cies have been reported in the Czech Republic, more
than half of them probably of Mediterranean origin,
indicating that Southern Europe is among the most
frequent sources of species introduced to Central
Europe (Peltanová et al. 2012). To provide further
information on land snail invasions from southern
countries, we report on a new Hungarian and two
new Slovak occurrences of Massylaea vermiculata (O.
F. Müller, 1774) (formerly Eobania vermiculata, see
BouaZiZ-yahiatene et al. 2012) (Fig. 1), a species
indigenous to the Mediterranean Basin. Its native
range extends from Spain to Turkey, it includes the
Crimean Peninsula (welTer-schultes 2012) and
the north African coastal area.
We report on M. vermiculata from the following
Slovak and Hungarian sites:
1. Slovakia: Bratislava City, 48°09.08'N, 17°01.87'E,
15th June 2019, j. Čapka leg., horticultural facili-
ty situated next to the Danube river branch, south
of it; a single snail was found on a water supply
shaft (Fig. 2). The specimen is deposited in the
private collection of T. Čejka.
2. Slovakia: Stupava Town, 48°15.70'N, 17°01.81'E,
9th May 2020, d. Čejková leg., horticultural fa-
cility, one individual was found on lavender im-
ported from Italy. The specimen is deposited in
the private collection of T. Čejka.
3. Hungary: Budapest, District XIX, Kós Károly
tér [square]: single specimen found in a yard of
a house, 47°27.28'N, 19°07.59'E, March 2020, J.
kelemen leg. (Fig. 3). The specimen is deposit-
ed in the Mollusca Collection of the Hungarian
Natural History Museum.
Both Slovak sites are located in horticultural are-
as. The horticultural centre in Bratislava (area 0.4 ha)
specialises in direct import of exotic woody plants,

338 Barna Páll-Gergely, Zoltán Fehér, Tomáš Čejka
which are kept in pots and evenly distributed within
the complex. The area is partly covered with geotex-
tiles and wooden planks to prevent growth of weeds.
The site is next to a owing Danube branch (approx.
30 m), which is lined with a narrow strip of ood-
plain forest.
The horticultural centre in Stupava is smaller
(0.14 ha in area), both herbaceous and woody plants
displayed are from domestic sources and from the
Mediterranean region (especially from Italy). The
plants are kept either in pots or in containers lled
with horticultural substrate. The complex is located
in a built-up area, isolated from natural habitats, ad-
jacent only to home gardens.
The Hungarian specimen was photographed by
a citizen scientist (Julianna Kelemen), who upload-
ed the photos to www.fajbook.hu – a citizen science
webpage on which members compete on the num-
ber of animal species they have photographed. Each
taxon has an expert editor who conrms or corrects
the identication provided by the citizen scientists.
The editor of Mollusca is one of the authors (Zoltán
Fehér), who recognised the value of the observation.
The single specimen was photographed at Kós Károly
tér [square] in Budapest, on a wall of a condominium
building. During targeted search, the photographed
specimen was re-found and collected ca. two months
after the photograph was taken.
The Slovak records represent the rst document-
ed occurrences in that country. In Hungary, however,
the species was reported before. An amateur collec-
tor, Lajos Ottó, found six live specimens in 1979 in
Lipót village, north-western Hungary, near the Slovak
border (ottó 1980, csányi & varGa 2017). He ex-
plained the survival of the snails by the character of
the site. Namely, the snails were found near a wall of a
greenhouse, in which hot water pipes run, and prob-
ably kept the wall and its immediate surroundings
Fig. 1. Distribution of Massylaea vermiculata. Shaded area outlines the Mediterranean range of the species, where it is
sometimes difcult to make distinction between native and non-native areas according to welTer-schultes (2012).
Dots indicate known records outside the Mediterranean (ottó 1980, Čejka et al. 2014, Mienis 2015, ronsMans &
van den neucker 2016, this study)

Massylaea vermiculata in Hungary and Slovakia 339
warm enough even during winter. No further infor-
mation about that population was published subse-
quently, nor were any other live specimens reported
in Hungary. The species was never reported from
Austria, although Peter L. Reischütz found a live M.
vermiculata on a lettuce in an Austrian supermarket
decades ago (alexander reischüTz, pers. comm.,
2020 May). In 2009, Čejka et al. (2014) found three
live individuals of M. vermiculata in Cologne (West
Germany). The species was introduced to a num-
ber of countries including the USA, Australia, Japan,
South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and
Iran (see ronsMans & van den neucker 2016 and
references therein). caPinha et al. (2014) claimed
that M. vermiculata was able to establish viable popu-
lations only in areas where climatic conditions were
similar to or warmer and wetter than those of its na-
tive range. Later, Mienis (2015), Mienis et al. (2017)
as well as ronsMans & van den neucker (2016)
reported on successful overwintering of introduced
populations in Belgium and the Netherlands. This
might be an indication that also Central European
climatic conditions might be locally suitable for the
overwintering of this species. In Budapest, the new-
ly discovered specimen was found in the yard of a
condominium suggesting that it arrived either with
garden plants as a stowaway, or as a souvenir from a
Mediterranean holiday. The fact that it was discov-
ered in March suggests that it may have overwin-
tered there. The observations of turóci et al. (2020)
provided useful insights regarding the rapid spread
of introduced molluscs. They found two non-native
slug species, Krynickillus melanocephalus Kaleniczenko,
1851 and Tandonia kusceri (H. Wagner, 1931), in single
sites in Hungary. After the rst conrmed site, they
posted photos on Facebook with explanations on the
slugs’ morphology, asking citizen scientists to send
them photos of similarly looking slugs. Even though
some of the researchers knew of only a single site of
each slug species, within a short time ca. 20 localities
were recorded by citizen scientists, indicating that
both species were already widespread in Hungary.
Consequently, we cannot rule out the possibility that
despite the small number of known Hungarian and
Slovak sites, M. vermiculata may already be widespread
in both countries. However, another research seems
to suggest the contrary. During a similar Facebook
inventory targeting the helicids Cornu aspersum (O. F.
Müller, 1774), Helix lucorum Linnaeus, 1758 and Helix
Fig. 2. Massylaea vermiculata found in Bratislava in June, 2019. Photo: T. Čejka
Fig. 3. Massylaea vermiculata found in Budapest in March,
2020 and uploaded to the www.fajbook.hu citizen sci-
ence website. After a careful search, the specimen was
re-found and captured two months later in May, 2020.
Photo: julianna kelemen

340 Barna Páll-Gergely, Zoltán Fehér, Tomáš Čejka
pomatia Linnaeus, 1758 in Budapest, we received
photos and/or specimens of those three species from
ca. 250 sites, along with reports of other helicid spe-
cies not targeted by the Facebook post. Among the
few hundred photos, none showed M. vermiculata.
Furthermore, none of the cases reported here repre-
sented stable populations. H. lucorum and C. aspersum
have been present in Budapest for no longer than 25
years. The former is restricted to the hilly Buda side,
but is quite widespread and frequent there. The lat-
ter can be found practically everywhere, most records
being from the plain Pest side (Páll-GerGely et al.
2019). Cornu aspersum is known to spread very rap-
idly and can survive in any kind of disturbed habitat.
Massylaea vermiculata may be more similar to H. luco-
rum, preferring walls and rather shady, more “deli-
cate” places than C. aspersum. Thus, we expect that
the spread of M. vermiculata would be rather local-
ised, and its presence would be probably restricted to
rather “good-looking” habitats, similarly to that of H.
lucorum. In any case, targeted monitoring would be
necessary to track the spread of M. vermiculata. More
frequent appearance of new alien Mediterranean
species can be due to the increase in long-distance
trade and leisure activities. It is not surprising that
many of the newly introduced species and/or popula-
tions are discovered in populated areas. These areas
are more affected by unintentional and intentional
introductions. Furthermore, they are more likely to
provide suitable thermal conditions for these new-
comers, as the temperature is usually higher in cities
than in uninhabited areas, which is the well-known
urban heat island effect (wilby 2007). Eradication of
potentially invasive species is suggested in the early
stages of invasion, when populations are small and
localised (Genovesi et al. 2010). Therefore, all spec-
imens captured in the Belgian population were killed
(ronsMans & van den neucker 2016). All three
specimens reported here were captured and killed in
ethanol in order to forestall the establishment any
viable populations. The photos of the Hungarian
specimen of M. vermiculata were discovered on a cit-
izen science website, Fajbook.hu, which further em-
phasises the usefulness of such platforms for early
detection and control of invasive species (Falk et al.
2016, Maistrello et al. 2016, Grason et al. 2018,
véTek et al. 2018, Páll-GerGely et al. 2019, turóci
et al. 2020).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The citizen science website Fajbook.hu made it
possible to discover the Hungarian site of M. vermi-
culata. Special thanks go to Bence Máté and ádám
Gór for their technical assistance and to julianna
kelemen for allowing her discovery to be published.
T. Čejka thanks Mr ján Čapka (Botanical garden,
Bratislava) for providing the individual of the spe-
cies from the horticultural facility Agapé, thanks
also go to the owner of the Agapé agency Mr anton
hirGel for the opportunity to survey the horticul-
tural centre area, to eike neuberT (Natural History
Museum of the Burgergemeinde Bern, Switzerland)
for conrming the identication of the species, and
to alexander reischüTz for the unpublished infor-
mation on the Austrian occurrence. The survey has
been partly supported by the Slovak Scientic Grant
Agency (VEGA No.2/0079/18).
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Received: June 10th, 2020
Revised: August 19th, 2020
Accepted: September 4th, 2020
Published on-line: October 9th, 2020