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Malacological Diversity on Some Lamiaceae in the Region of Tlemcen (Northwest Algeria)



Author(s)

Amina Damerdji

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DOI:10.17265/1934-7391/2013.08.011

Department of Ecology and Environment, Faculty of S.N.V/S.T.U, University of Tlemcen, Tlemcen 13000, Algeria

The region of Tlemcen is located in the northwestern part of Algeria. Its arid climate leads to the degradation of vegetation in open formation, where can be found the doum, the diss and broom. Other aromatic species such as rosemary, thyme, lavender and horehound are considered as well. The four previous aromatic species belong to the family Labiatae for their morphological and botanical characters. The authors propose to design an approach to identify the diversity of malacofauna found on these different Lamiaceae. These are certainly a nutritional source for this malacological fauna. So, a survey was performed in various stations. The malacological richness is estimated to be 19 for thyme, 18 for rosemary, 16 for lavender, and finally 7 for horehound. It includes four families, namely Milacidae, Sphincterochilidae, Helicidae and Subulinidae. Milacidae are present only in horehound and lavender stations. On the other hand, the Sphincterochilidae, namely Sphincterochila candidissima, is absent on horehound. Rumina decollata is the only species in the family Subulinidae. As for the family Helicidae, it is the richest and includes two specific subfamilies: Helicinae and Helicellinae. The first subfamily consists of 11 species of thyme, 10 species of rosemary and lavender. The second subfamily includes 6 species of thyme and rosemary and 3 of lavender, respectively. In addition, the author tries to look for the malacological species specific to each of these plants and those who are common to them as well. Finally, the vertical distribution of gastropods is given.

Malacological fauna, Lamiaceae, specific richness, vertical distribution, region of Tlemcen (northwest Algeria).