Considerations Regarding the Land Snails from the Upper Timiş River Valley (Banat, Romania)

The paper focuses on land snail fauna from the upper Timiş River valley. The analyzed material originates from seven locations starting with the Trei Ape area (Semenic Mountains) and ending with Petroşniţa (upstream Caransebeş). Samplings were made during one campaign in August 2012. A total of 24 species was identified, belonging to 14 families. The area analyzed exhibits a reduced diversity due to the type of substratum represented by crystalline schist, the conifer dominated vegetation in the mountain area, and the anthropogenic impact of tourism, intensive grazing, cutting of woody vegetation in meadows and waste storage. The presence in Sadova Veche of the species Drobacia banatica, listed on Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive, underlines the importance of riparian habitat preservation for the conservation and dispersion of land snail species.