Figure 1 Location of the Upper Fraser Basin in the province of British Columbia. 1, Burns Lake; 2, Vanderhoof; 3, Prince George; 4, McBride; 5, Valemount; 6, Quesnel; 7, Williams Lake; 8, 100 Mile House.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT

This report, as part of Living Landscapes, documents the terrestrial molluscs (snails and slugs) of the upper Fraser Basin. This is a vast region of British Columbia that extends from the headwaters of the Fraser River at the Alberta border (52°34'N, 118°16´W; 52°53´N, 118°27´W at the Yellowhead Pass) west to the Coast Mountains, including the headwaters of the Nechako River. To the north the Fraser drainage extends to Summit Lake on Highway 97 and northwest to the headwaters of the Driftwood River (56°10´N, 126°58´W) (Figure 1).

Existing data on terrestrial molluscs of the upper Fraser Basin consisted mostly of a few historical collections, two published scientific papers, and my own collections and unpublished data.In June 2001 I took part in fieldwork for the purpose of collecting specimens for the Invertebrate Zoology Collection of the Royal BC Museum. Previous to this, the upper Fraser Basin was poorly represented in the museum’s collection. The main objectives of the project were:

• To survey for, and improve our knowledge of, terrestrial molluscs of the upper Fraser Basin;
• To add value to specimens already part of the Royal BC Museum collection by checking identifications and specimen data; and
• To amalgamate collection records and data from various sources into a single document (this report).

The majority of British Columbia’s terrestrial molluscs are tiny and usually overlooked in general natural history surveys. Prior to the Royal BC Museum handbook, Land Snails of British Columbia (Forsyth 2004) only two publications (Stanwell-Fletcher & Stanwell-Fletcher 1943; Harris & Hubricht 1982) report any species from the upper Fraser Basin. Even the landmark monograph of Pilsbry (1939–1948) does not list locality records from this large area of British Columbia.

This report documents the species of terrestrial molluscs known from the upper Fraser Basin, and gives the results of recent fieldwork. For further information on the species documented here, see Land Snails of British Columbia (Forsyth 2004), which includes full descriptions, figures and keys.

Terrestrial Gastropods ...   
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