Volume 52 Published on 22 March 2002
France is a country of extensive climatic and biogeographic diversity, which is reflected in the composition of its fauna. The present checklist recognizes 660 valid species-level taxa of land and fresh-water molluscs, of which 180 are endemic; when subspecies are considered, 747 terminal taxa (species and subspecies) are present in the country, of which 233 are endemic. All the taxa listed have been either critically evaluated by the authors or included in the list based on state-of-the-art taxonomy in the published literature or expert knowledge from practising taxonomists. Considerable attention has been paid to the nomenclature of the taxa listed, and all new taxonomic and nomenclatural decisions are documented in extensive notes. The French distribution of every species is briefly characterized by reference to its occurence in standard biogeographic regions. An extensive bibliography contains references to ca. 3000 publications containing faunistical information on the land and fresh-water molluscs of France. The present checklist ambitions to boost interest in the French continental molluscs, from mapping projects to taxonomical research and conservation. Outside France, it is bound to stand as an equally essential tool for taxonomists working on west Palearctic faunas.
