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The introduction of the holobiont concept has triggered scientific interest in depicting the structural and functional diversity of animal microbial symbionts, which has resulted in an unprecedented wealth of such cross-domain biological associations. The steadfast technological progress in nucleic acid-based approaches would cause one to expect that scientific works on the microbial symbionts of animals would be balanced at least for the farmed animals of human interest. For some animals, such as ruminants and a few farmed fish species of financial significance, the scientific wealth of the microbial worlds they host is immense and ever growing. The opposite happens for other animals, such as snails, in both the wild and farmed species. Snails are evolutionary old animals, with complex ecophysiological roles, living in rich microbial habitats such as soil and sediments or water. In order to create a stepping stone for future snail microbiome studies, in this literature review, we combined all the available knowledge to date, as documented in scientific papers, on any microbes associated with healthy and diseased terrestrial and aquatic snail species from natural and farmed populations. We conducted a Boolean search in Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect until June 2024, identifying 137 papers, of which 60 were used for original data on snail bacterial communities in the gastrointestinal tract, hepatopancreas, and feces. We provide a synthesis on how representative this knowledge is towards depicting the possible snail core microbiota, as well as the steps that need to be taken in the immediate future to increase the in-depth and targeted knowledge of the bacterial component in snail holobionts.

Anew minute valvatiform species belonging to the genus Daphniola Radoman, 1973, Daphniola eptalophossp. n., from mountain Parnassos, Greece is described. The new species has a transparent valvatiform-planispiral shell, wide and open umbilicus, grey-black pigmented soft body and head and a black penis with a small colorless outgrowth on the left side near its base. A comparative table of shell dimensions and a key to the species known for this endemic genus for Greece are provided.

A new to science valvatiform hydrobiid, Radea, , from southern Greece, is described and illustrated. The new genus is a tiny gastropod thriving in a stream and is differentiated from the other known European and circum-Mediterranean valvatiform hydrobiid genera by a unique combination of the male and female genitalia features i.e. penis long, flat, blunt, with wide wrinkled proximal part and narrow distal part with a sub-terminal eversible papilla on its left side, bursa copulatrix well-developed, pyriform, fully protruding from the posterior end of the albumen gland and two seminal receptacles respectively. The new monotypic and locally endemic genus is narrowly distributed and its single known population nearby a coastal bustling village is vulnerable to anthropogenic stressors.

Alien insects represent one of the most species rich groups of organisms introduced to Europe, with some responsible for adverse social-economic, human-health, biodiversity and ecosystem impacts. The impacts of invasive alien species, especially on island ecosystems, have been a hot topic of research worldwide. Cyprus is a Mediterranean island at the biogeographic crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. This study presents the database of the alien insects of the island of Cyprus as a whole, created through an extensive review including grey literature and online sources. The Alien to Cyprus Entomofauna (ACE) triples the known number of alien insects and adds supplemental information to existing species. Data concerning a total of 349 alien insects are presented alongside an updated checklist and recommendations for informing management. The status of alien insects on the island, their origin, trophic guilds, establishment, pathways of introduction and impacts are discussed. Developing an alien species inventory for the island is challenging due to its geographic position and the increasing movement of people and goods leading to new species introductions. This publication constitutes an important first step towards providing information for effective actions to tackle invasive alien insects on Cyprus. The checklist and accompanying information can underpin understanding of the status and trends of alien species including providing information for risk assessments. ACE will continue to be maintained and updated as new records for Cyprus are made.

The aquatic snail genus Dianella (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae) has only two representatives in Greece: Dianellaschlickumi Schütt, 1962 and Dianellathiesseana (Kobelt, 1878). D.schlickumi , a narrow endemic species to Lake Amvrakia (in Aitoloakarnania, western-central Greece), is considered as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct, sensu IUCN 2017). Our study confirmed its presence in Lake Amvrakia, where it had not been detected for more than 30 years. We document the unknown anatomical characters based on the D.schlickumi specimens. Moreover, the presence of D.thiesseana in the nearby lakes Trichonis and Lysimachia was also confirmed, while morphometric analyses enabled the discrimination between the two species. Redundancy Analysis revealed conductivity, dissolved oxygen and pH as the main environmental variables related to the above species’ distribution, shaping their community structure. Both Dianella species require urgent conservation measures to be enforced, due to their habitat degradation from human activities, which are limiting and fragmenting their range. For that purpose, effective management plans have to be elaborated and implemented at the mentioned lakes, focusing on the reduction of human pressures and on the improvement of their habitats.

Hydrobioid freshwater gastropods were collected from mainland and insular Greece. Several threatened taxa, such as Graecoanatolica vegorriticola, Pseudamnicola negropontina, Pseudamnicola pieperi, Pseudobithynia eubooensis and Pseudoislamia balcanica, were recorded from new localities. Trichonia trichonica, which has been considered extinct from its type locality for the last twenty eight years, was re-discovered, whereas the presence of Daphniola exigua, G. vegorriticola, Marstoniopsis graeca, P. pieperi and Pseudobithynia trichonis in their type localities was verified. The taxonomic status of P. negropontina and the newly discovered populations of G. vegorriticola was elucidated using COI sequence data. The new data recorded during this survey indicate that the IUCN status of some Greek endemic hydrobioids needs to be updated.