Morphological and Taxonomic Features of the genus Melanopsis (Ferrussac, 1807) (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Melanopsidae) spreading in Turkey

In this thesis, the morphological and taxonomic relationships of Melanopsis costata and Melanopsis praemorsa which are two species of Melanopsis genus belonging to the subclass of Prosobranchia were investigated. Study material was obtained from private collection of the Mustafa Emre GÜRLEK's (Ph.D.) from the Southeastern Anatolia Region, Mediterranean region, Central Anatolia Region and Aegean Region of Turkey which was collected between the years 2008-2017. 86 individuals from 8 stations in Adana, Hatay, Mersin, Osmaniye, for Melanopsis costata, spiral height and spiral length were measured and mean data were obtained for Melanopsis praemorsa for a total of 476 individuals from Balıkesir, Bursa, Sakarya, Izmir, Manisa, Çankiri, Osmaniye, Kahramanmaras, Adiyaman, Adana, Kilis, Adapazari, Antalya, Denizli. At the end of the study, 5 of the 8 stations belonging to Melanopsis costata and 6 of the 42 stations belonging to Melanopsis praemorsa showed significant morphometric differences and these differences were compared with morphological characters. 36 of the 50 stations for the two species are the new localities records for our country Melanopsidae fauna.