Ani Bikashvili‡, Nino Kachlishvili‡, Levan Mumladze§Corresponding author: Levan Mumladze ( lmumladze@gmail.com ) © Ani Bikashvili, Nino Kachlishvili, Levan Mumladze. This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Bikashvili A, Mumladze L, Kachlishvili N (2021) Species diversity and distribution of freshwater molluscs of Javakheti Highlands (Republic of Georgia). ARPHA Preprints. https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e66650 |  |
The diversity and distribution of freshwater molluscs is poorly studied in the Republic of Georgia, due to the lack of field studies during the last 50 years. Here we present the results of the first concerted investigation of freshwater mollusc biodiversity in Javakheti Highlands, in the southern, mountainous region of Georgia. In total, we were able to collect 23 species from 42 sampling localities, including different kinds of freshwater habitats. Among the 23 collected species, 13 were recorded for the first time from Javakheti. From the newly recorded species, Bathiomphalus contortus is the new country record, whose identity is supported by 16S rRNA sequence data.