Glacial refugia and postglacial spread of an iconic large European land snail, Helix pomatia (Pulmonata: Helicidae)

The Holocene postglacial expansions offer a possibility to assess how quickly snails, with proverbially slow active dispersal and unclear passive dispersal capabilities, can naturally spread. We explore the possibilities and limitations of such an approach on an iconic European snail. We locate probable sources of postglacial expansion of Helix pomatia and date its earliest postglacial subfossil occurrences in Central Europe, close to presumed...