Research Report

Research Report

Scientific career

1954-1959: Studies of marine molluscs.
From 1959: Studies of land snails, becoming specialist for the family Clausiliidae,
cooperation with the Senckenberg-Museum Frankfurt am Main (now Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg).
From 1960: Research travels to southern and western Alps, France, Italy, former Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.
From 1962: Publication of scientific papers on land snails, mainly on Clausiliidae.
16.06.1971: Appointment of collaborator of the Senckenberg-Museum.
22.11.1992: Award of the Senckenberg Iron Medal.
From 1992: Cooperation with the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart.
2000-2002: Cooperation with the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle Paris.

Collection

The private collection of H. Nordsieck includes only European Clausiliidae. Non-European Clausiliidae received from collectors in Asia and South America for that collection are deposited in the Senckenberg-Museum Frankfurt.
The collection of European Clausiliidae consists of a shell collection and a soft-part collection with a collection of genital preparations . It includes the samples collected in the own research travels and those received from other collectors by exchange or in connection with determinations and revisions. For the samples collected in the research travels until 1978 a catalogue of localities with biotope informations exists.
The collection is housed in the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart; parts of the shell samples collected since 1972 are deposited in the Senckenberg-Museum Frankfurt. The material collected since 2001 is largely deposited in the Senckenberg-Museum Frankfurt.

Research Report

Books:

  • 2007 Worldwide Door Snails (Clausiliidae), recent and fossil. – Hackenheim (ConchBooks).
  • 2017 Pulmonata, Stylommatophora, Helicoidea: systematics with comments. – Harxheim (ConchBooks).
  • 2022 European Door Snails (Clausiliidae), I: taxonomy, species concept, phylogeny. Harxheim

Papers (see Publications):

General papers on the system of the Clausiliidae: 1963a, 1969d, 1978a, 1979a, 1982a, 1984b, 2005e, 2015d, books 2007, 2017.

Papers on

recent European Clausiliidae since 1963,
including taxonomy of

  • “Serrulininae”: 1978b, 1994, 1995;
  • Alopiinae:
  • Albinaria: 1977a, 1984a, 1993c, 1999a, 2004, 2014d, 2015b, 2017b, 2019;
  • Alopia: 1979b, 1981c, 2008b, 2013e, 2015f, 2016a, 2019;
  • Charpentieria: 1963b;
  • Cochlodina: 1969a, b, c, 2007b;
  • Cristataria: 1971c;
  • Delima: 1969e;
  • Delimini: 2002b, 2013d, 2015b, 2019;
  • Herilla: 1971a;
  • Leucostigma: 2011a;
  • Medora: 1970a, 2009b, 2012a;
  • Montenegrina 2009a;
  • other groups of Alopiinae: 1972a, 1974d, 1977c;
  • Clausiliinae:
  • “Mentissoideinae”: 1975a, 1977c, 1994, 1995, 2004b, 2005b;
  • Clausiliini:
  • Clausilia: 1966a, 1990, 2002e, 2013b, 2013h [Nardi & Nordsieck];
  • Macrogastra: 2003c, 2006a;
  • other groups of Clausiliini: 2019;
  • Baleini:
  • Balea, Alinda, Laciniaria: 2007e, 2008a;
  • other groups of Baleini: 1973b, 1974d, 1975a, 1976a, 1977c, 2019;

non-European Clausiliidae:

  • Garnieriinae: 2002g, 2005a, 2007c, 2010, 2011d, 2012b, c, d, 2014a, 2016c;
  • Neniinae: 1999d, 2005c [Neubert & Nordsieck], 2005d, 2010;
  • Phaedusinae: 1973a, 1974b, 1997b, 1998d, 2001c, 2002f, 2003a, b, 2005a, 2007c, 2011d, 2012b, d, 2013f, 2016c, 2018a;

further articles on recent Clausiliidae on the website www.hnords.de

  • fossil Clausiliidae from western and central Europe: 1972c, 1974a, 1976b, 1978c, 1981a, b, 1985a, c, 2000a, 2002i, 2013c, g, 2014c, 2015c, d, e;
  • stratigraphy of Neogene deposits with clausiliid faunas: 1982b, 1990;
  • the systematic position of the Clausiliidae: 1985b, 1986b;
  • the system of the Helicoidea: 1986a, 1987, 1993b, 2002c;
  • the system of the Pulmonata: 1993a;
  • Chondrina: 1962, 1970b;
  • Cochlostoma: 2011b;
  • Marmorana: 2011c;
  • Cepaea: 2014b;
  • fossil Stylommatophora: 2014e;
  • fossil Helicoidea: 1986a, 2015a, 2016b, 2018b.

Research results:

Main result of the research was the revision of the system of the Clausiliidae.

Basic results in this task were the following:

  • Species differ by shell and genital characters; the differences in shell and genital morphology are not equally great in different groups (1963a, 1966a, 1969c, 1971c, 1990).
  • Characters have different taxonomic value; the essential characters of different groups are not the same. Characters which formerly were regarded as essential often turned out to be convergences (1963a, 1969d, 1973a, 1978a, 1979a, 1998d, 2001c, 2002g, 2004b, Nordsieck & Neubert 2002).
  • For the definition of higher taxa genital morphology is more important than shell morphology (1969d, 1978a, 1979a, 1994).
  • Three character complexes formerly used as principal characters in classification originated more than once by parallel evolution:
  • G-type of clausilial apparatus (1963a, 1966a, 1969d, 1979a, 1982a, 1997c);
  • apostrophy (1978a, 1999c, 2002g);
  • transformed diverticulum of bursa copulatrix (1978a).

The contributions in the following fields of research go beyond the taxonomic work on Clausiliidae:

  • Origin and evolution of the clausilial apparatus (1982a, book 2007).
  • Distribution of the European Clausiliidae in time, their stratigraphic importance, faunal changes and successions (1981b, 1982b, 1990, 2000a, 2015d, books 2007, 2017).
  • Stratigraphy of the Neogene deposits with fossil Clausiliidae and Filholiidae (1982b, 1990).
  • Morphology of genital and excretory systems of the Stylommatophora, importance of certain genital organs for phylogeny and systematics (1966b, 1985b).
  • Complexity of species subdivision into subspecies and speciation in Clausiliidae and resulting problems for taxonomy (1963b, 1966a, 1969e, 1970a, 1971a, 1973b, 1990, 1993c, 1999a, 2002e, 2002h, 2004a, book 2007).
  • Species hybridization in Clausiliidae, its occurrence in different groups and resulting problems for species concept and taxonomy (1969e, 1979b, 1984a, 1997c, 1999a, 2004a, book 2007).
  • Left-right-coiling in Alopia, copulation and hybridization of inversely coiled species (1978e, 1979b, 1986c, 2008b, 2016a).
  • Mating biology of Clausiliidae (1969d, 2005f, book 2007).

Further contributions concern the following fields of research:

  • Systematics of the Helicoidea (1987, 1993b, 2002c, book 2017), system of the fossil European Helicoidea and their distribution in time (1986a, 2014e, book 2017).
  • Systematics and distribution of the Stylommatophora in space and time (1986b, 2014e, book 2017).
  • Phylogeny and system of the Pulmonata (1993a, book 2017).

Research travels:

  • Southern Alps (southern Austria, Italy from Lake of Lugano to Venezia Giulia): IV.1960, VIII.1960, IV.1961, IX.1961, IX.-X.1962, IX.1963, IV.1968, VIII.-IX.1980, IV.2001, V.2003, -VIII.2012, VII.2013.
  • Western Alps (Italy, France): IV.1971 (mainly Piedmont), VII.-VIII.1987 (Piedmont, Provence), VII.-VIII.1988 (Piedmont, Liguria).
  • France: VII.-VIII.1982, VIII.-IX.1983 (mainly Languedoc and Provence), IV.2014 (Jura).
  • Italy: VIII.-IX.1972 (Puglia), VI.-VII.2009, X.2009, III.-IV.2010 (central Italy), X.2010 (central and southern Italy), IV.2011, X. 2011, IV.2012 (southern Italy).
  • Yugoslavia: IX.1961 (mainly Slovenia), IX.1963 (mainly Dalmatia), VIII.-IX.1965 (mainly Dalmatia), IV.1966 (Dalmatia), VIII.1966 (Croatia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Hercegovina), III.-IV.1967 (mainly Dalmatia), VIII.1967 (mainly Croatia with Istria and Dalmatia), IV.1968 (Istria), VII.-VIII.1968 (Dalmatia, Hercegovina), III.-IV.1969 (Croatia, Dalmatia), VII.-VIII.1969 (mainly Crna Gora), III.-IV.1970 (mainly Dalmatia and Hercegovina), VIII.1970 (mainly Serbia and Macedonia), VIII.-IX.1971 (Serbia, Macedonia), VII.-VIII.1973 (Serbia), VII.-VIII.1974 (mainly Crna Gora and Macedonia), VII.-VIII.1975 (mainly Istria), IX.1985 (Slovenia), VIII.1986 (Dalmatia).
  • Slovenia, Croatia: IV.2001 (Slovenia, Istria), V.-VI.2004, V.-VI.2005 (Slovenia), V.2006, IX.2006 (Slovenia, Croatia), V.2008, X.2008, IV.-V.2009 (mainly Dalmatia), VII.2013 (Slovenia, Croatia), III.-IV.2015 (Dalmatia), IV.2019 (Slovenia).
  • Greece: VIII.-IX.1971 (Macedonia, Thessalia, Epirus), VIII.-IX.1972 (Epirus, central Greece, Euboea, Thessalia), VII.-VIII.1974 (Macedonia), X.-XI.1997, V.-VI.1998 (eastern Peloponnese).
  • Bulgaria: VII.-VIII.1973 (Balkan, Rhodopes).
  • Romania: VII.-VIII.1975 (Banat, southern Carpathians), VII.-VIII.1976, VII.-VIII.1977, VII.1978, VIII.-IX.1979, VIII.-IX.1980 (western, southern and eastern Carpathians), VIII.2014, VIII.2015, VII.2016 (southern Carpathians).
  • Turkey: IV.1992, XII.1992-I.1993, XII.1993-I.1994, VII.-VIII.1994, V.-VI.1995 (southern Anatolia from provinces Denizli to Hatay).
  • Collection trips in Germany (western and southern parts), Switzerland (northern part, Jura), Austria (Lower Austria), France (Alsace), Belgium, Luxemburg and Great Britain (southern England).