Nature reserves Grądy nad Moszczenicą and Grądy nad Lindą - refuges of forest malacofauna in central Poland

In 2007 and 2009 two forest nature reserves situated in the environs of Łódź, Central Poland, were sampled by visual search and sieving litter samples to produce complete lists of terrestrial gastropods. Four sites representing various plant communities were searched in each reserve (Tilio-Carpinetum typicum, Tilio-Carpinetum stachyetosum, Fraxino-Alnetum, Ribeso nigri-Alnetum). The resulting material included 3,217 specimens representing 44 species of gastropods (including 38 terrestrial) and bivalves (Pisidium sp.). Thirty eight gastropod species were recorded from Grądy nad Moszczenicą (among them five slugs and four freshwater snails); and 35 from Grądy nad Lindą (among them six slugs and four freshwater snails). The richest sites (Fraxino-Alnetum in Grądy nad Moszczenicą and Ribeso nigri-Alnetum in Grądy nad Lindą) harboured 27 and 26 terrestrial gastropod species, respectively. Some species were recorded for the first time in the region, namely: Acicula polita (Hartmann), Vertigo alpestris Alder and Clausilia cruciata (Studer). The rich malacofauna with three coexisting clausiliid species (Alinda biplicata (Montagu), Ruthenica filograna (Rossmässler) and Clausilia cruciata (Studer)) in Grądy nad Moszczenicą indicates a small degree of habitat destruction in the nature reserve.