Summary
Populations of the snail Cepaea nemoralis often show local genetic differentiations (area effects). The importance of environmental selection in controlling such patterns of gene distribution is uncertain, as some local associations of morph frequency with microclimate are not found in other populations.
The eastern European snail C. vindobonensis has a very simple shell polymorphism. C. vindobonensis populations in north Yugoslavia show a clear tendency for snails with reduced band pigmentation to be found in places with a warm microclimate.
This paper describes C. vindobonensis in another region with a similar topography. There is a very similar pattern of association of morph frequency with topography, snails with reduced band pigment being common only outside large basins which act as frost hollows.
This consistency of association with environment suggests that climatic selection is of general importance in affecting morph frequency distribution in C. vindobonensis populations.
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References
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Jones, J. Environmental selection in the snail Cepaea vindobonensis in the lika area of yugoslavia. Heredity 32, 165–170 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1974.20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1974.20
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