We discuss the role of environmental factors in the speciation of freshwater
molluscs. The most promising areas of study in this field are suggested: the study of phylogenetic and taxonomic relations in model groups by genomics methods; largescale phylogeographic studies of samples throughout the species range; the study of interpopulation and interspecific differences in life cycles by transcriptomics, ecophysiology and controlled experiments in mesocosms; the integration of data from paleontology, molecular phylogenetics, biogeography and ecology for a reconstruction of the evolutionary history of freshwater mollusc taxa of the family or subfamily rank.