With certainty roads and cars do more help to their dispersal than isolation.

I have seen many Eobania snails on a car once, many Cochlicellas seen reaching
an uninvaded locality in Ireland on a single vehicle. Sometimes the distance
travelled with a car both vertically and altidudinally may be unbelievably
luxurious and long enough to invader molluscs, target areas may also be pure
and isolated spots, thanks to us!

I dont think snails would generally tend to cross main roads due to exposure.
On the contrary occurrence of many invaders along roads (Limax, Theba,
Eobania, Cochlicella)is an evidence, although weak, to their hitchhaking
habits. Secondly, on cold periods and after heavy rains, roads are good
corridors for montane species (as for flowers). During heavy rains they are
washed off rocks they hide and roads stop their lethal downward ramblings.They
can even cross the roads if not too wide.


Ümit Kebapçı
Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi
Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi, Biyoloji Bölümü
Çünür, ISPARTA

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