ANNALES • Ser. hist. nat. • 11 • 2001 • Suplement - Abstracts
Interdisciplinary Workshop "Pattern and Process in Balkan Biodiversity", Koper, September 25-28 2001
A FAUNISTIC REVIEW OF THE MODERN AND FOSSIL MOLLUSCAN FAUNA 
FROM LAKE PAMVOTIS, IQANNINA, AN ANCIENT LAKE IN NW GREECE: 
IMPLICATIONS FOR ENDEMISM IN THE BALKANS
Michael R. FROGLEY 
Centre for Environmental Research, University of Sussex, UK
Richard C. PREECE 
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK
The Balkans are justifiably famous for their unusually rich biodiversity. Isolated ancient lakes such as Ohrid and 
Prespa have developed remarkable endemic faunas, attesting to the complex biogeographical evolution of the re­
gion. Despite the detailed biological investigation of such sites, however, many key localities in the Balkans remain 
poorly known, particularly with regard to their fossil histories. Here we present an account of the aquatic molluscan 
fauna from Lake Pamvotis, an ancient lake located within the loannina Basin of NW Greece, that has a fossil record 
stretching back to the Plio-Pleistocene. Unlike the faunas from Ohrid and Prespa, however, the modern molluscan 
fauna of Lake Pamvotis does not exhibit spectacular endemism, as only four of the thirty-seven species that now oc­
cur in the lake and its surrounding marshland and springs appear to be endemic. Eight of these extant species have 
been found in Holocene sediments and four have records extending back beyond 200 kyr, but these are borehole 
records, so the faunas are certain to have been more diverse in the past. It is significant that older, magnetically re­
versed sediments from loannina have yielded additional taxa, including forms of Viviparus that appear to show dif­
ferences in shell ornamentation with time. By comparing the loannina record with other extant and fossil lake se­
quences from the region, we consider what implications this might have in terms of the evolution of both Lake Pam­
votis and other Balkan sites.
Key words: Quarternary, Molluscs, Lake Pamvotis, Greece, palaeoecology
FOSSIL OSTRACODS AND FAUNISTICS: WHAT THEY TELL US ABOUT THE EVOLUTION
OF REGIONAL BIODIVERSITY
Huw I. GRIFFITHS 
Department of Geography, University of Hull, UK
Michael R. FROGLEY 
Centre for Environmental Research, University of Sussex, UK
Although still under-researched, the ostracod fauna of the Balkans is well-known for its large numbers of en­
demic species, many of which occupy localised distributions in the karst or in biodiversity 'sump' areas such as Lake 
Ohrid. Moreover, very diverse PlioPleistocene faunas have been described - particularly by workers from the former 
FSR Yugoslavia. We review these two datasets, and incorporate further information derived from recent fine-scale 
studies of extended (> one climatic cycle) lake sediment records from Pamvotis (W. Greece) and Kopais (E. Greece). 
These analyses provide additional insights into the temporal structuring of aquatic biodiversity and the timing of 
colonisation events. Contrasts are also made with faunistic and palaeoecolgical datasets from adjacent regions - no­
tably western Anatolia.
Key words: Ostracoda, Quarternary, recent, palaeobiogeography, southern Balkans