Collezioni malacologiche e monitoraggi delle comunità di molluschi terrestri del Delta del Po e della Pianura Padana orientale: il Progetto CoSMoS – Collecting Snails, Monitoring Snails

The CoSMoS project is an initiative of Citizen Science with teaching and educational modules for students and citizens. The project examines the terrestrial molluscs (gastropods) in seven sites in the Po Delta and in the Eastern Po Valley (3 in the province of Ravenna and 4 in the province of Ferrara) and considers the monitoring and the comparison of current and historical faunal data. The latter can be derived from the malacological collection “Giorgio Lazzari” of the Natural History Museum of Ferrara. 51 species were collectively assessed, 44 of which were present in the historical surveys. Almost all species found are indigenous: only three are alien. From an ecological point of view, species closely linked to forest environments prevail, but there are also typical entities of other environments or very adaptable entities. From the biogeographical point of view, the most interesting result is the discovery, south of the Po, of two entities (Fruticicola fruticum and Monachoides incarnatus) which have a European distribution and in our country usually occur in Alpine and pre-Alpine areas