ISSN 2755-3531
A new species of the genus Helix from the lesser Caucasus (SW Georgia)
L. Mumladze, D. Tarkhnishvili & B.M. Pokryszko
Abstract. Helix goderdziana sp. nov. is described from the Lesser Caucasus, south-western Georgia. Its habitat is a humid montane forest. This is the largest species of Helix known so far.
Key words. Land snails, Lesser Caucasus, Helix, new species
New taxon. Helix goderdziana Mumladze, Tarkhnishvili & Pokryszko, 2008
Date of publication. June 2008
Redescription of Planorbis agraulus Bourguignat, 1864 (Gastropoda: Planorbidae)
Peter Gloer & Slimane Bouzm
Abstract. Syntypes of Planorbis agraulus Bourguignat, 1864 are compared with a recently collected Planorbis sp. which could be indentified as P. agraulus, too. So we can provide the anatomy of the species under discussion for the first time. Comparisons with data in the literature showed us that P. agraulus is possibly not in Italy and thus is not conspecific with Planorbis moquini Requien, 1848. So the question arose which Planorbis spp. live in Italy.
Key words. Planorbis agraulus, Planorbis moquini, redescription, anatomy, syntypes
Date of publication. June 2008
G. Manganelli, V. Spadini & V. Fiorentino
Abstract. Three Early–Middle Italian Pliocene aporrhaid species are redescribed on the basis of material from the Siena and Radicofani basins (central Italy). Two of them, Aporrhais pespelecani (Linnaeus, 1758) and Aporrhais uttingeriana (Risso, 1826), are well known but the third, Aporrhais peralata (Sacco, 1893), has been almost completely overlooked despite its probable widespread distribution in the Italian Pliocene. This species, characterized by peristome with large parietal callus, long adapical digitation, thick laminar abaxial lip with three short digitations and short abapical digitation, is distinct from other Euromediterranean Pliocene to Recent species. However problems remain with specimens of Aporrhais serresiana (Michaud, 1828) having a wider lip and shorter digitations. The latter were formerly assigned to a different species, Aporrhais macandreae Jeffreys, 1867, but are now considered conspecific with A. serresiana, though re-analysis of their taxonomic status by modern approaches would be useful. A. peralata is distinct from these specimens by virtue of its more delicate axial sculpture, more obtuse spire and larger abaxial lip with shorter digitations.
Key words. Aporrhaidae, taxonomy, systematics, nomenclature, distribution
Date of publication. June 2008
Olivier Gargominy
Abstract. On Tahiti, invasive species such as the carnivorous snail Euglandina rosea or the tree Miconia calvescens have impacted much of indigenous species or habitats, even in remote places not affected by agriculture or development. However, thanks to the extreme ecological conditions in altitude, these invasive species have not reached higher elevation where patches of native vegetation with endemic flora and fauna still occur. On Mount Aorai, second highest peak of Tahiti (2066 m), the impact of Euglandina rosea and Miconia calvescens reach a maximum altitude of 1400 m. Above this altitude, endemic gastropod species are still found alive and some remain undescribed. A new genus of Vertiginidae, Nesoropupa n. gn., is described for four new species from the top 500 m of Mount Aorai and Mount Marau: N. duodecim n. sp. (type species), N. fenua n. sp., N. nathaliae n. sp. and N. fontainei n. sp. Also discussed is how the impact of global warming is allowing introduced species to colonize higher altitudes up to the summits.
Key words. Nesoropupa n. gn., new species, Tahiti, altitudinal ceiling, global warming
New taxa. Nesoropupa Gargominy, 2008; Nesorupupa duodecim Gargominy, 2008; Nesorupupa fenua Gargominy, 2008; Nesorupupa nathaliae Gargominy, 2008; Nesorupupa fontainei Gargominy, 2008
Date of publication. June 2008
B. Rowson & W.O.C. Symondson
Abstract. The subterranean, carnivorous slug Selenochlamys ysbryda sp. nov. is described from a breeding population in an urban garden in Cardiff, Wales, UK. The species was probably introduced recently among garden plants. Selenochlamys is a distinctive and little-known genus of the Trigonochlamydidae, a family endemic to the Caucasus and neighbouring countries, hitherto unrecorded east of Turkey. Cardiff material differs from specimens and descriptions of the sole previously recognised species S. pallida 0. Boettger, 1883 in having vestigial eyes, in greater body size, in musculature, in small differences in the genitalia, and in other features. In colour and vestigial eyes, S. ysbryda resembles certain troglobitic (cave-dwelling) molluscs of the Caucasus but may simply be a deeply edaphobitic (soil-dwelling) animal. We describe the living animal and aspects of the behaviour of S. ysbryda, including the consumption of earthworms. In size, morphology and behaviour there are numerous and striking convergences between S. ysbryda and the West Palearctic genus Testacella (Testacellidae), probably indicating a similar ecology. Testacella is known to have been widely spread by man, as have several earthworm-eating terrestrial planarians. In the light of these comparisons, we speculate on whether S. ysbryda is likely to occur elsewhere undetected or spread further.
Key words. British Isles, Caucasus, slugs, introductions, earthworms, predation
Date of publication. June 2008
High resolution PDF (21.5mb)Morphological and DNA-Based taxonomy of Tudorella P. Fischer, 1885 (Caenogastropoda: Pomatiidae)
Alberto Martinez-Orti, Miren Arantzazu Elejalde, Maria Jose Madeira & Benjamin Gomez-Moliner
Abstract. The study of the shell size and shape, including microsculpture of protoconch and teleoconch, together with anatomical studies of the reproductive system allowed us to discriminate three different morphospecies within Tudorella: T. ferruginea, T. mauretanica and T. sulcata. DNA sequences of two mitochondrial genes, COI and 16S rRNA were used to understand the phylogenetic relationships within the genus. Both individual and combined analyses of these genes showed three main genetically unique lineages which were considered as different species. There was a complete congruence between morphology and phylogeny. The validity of the monophyletic T. sulcata melitense and T. s. sulcata were also evaluated on the basis of their genetic divergences and morphology.
Key words: Pomatiidae, Tudorella, molecular analysis, morphology, Western Mediterranean
Date of publication. June 2008
Coralliophilinae (Neogastropoda: Muricidae) from the Marquesas Islands
Marco Oliverio
Abstract. Fourteen species of Coralliophilinae (Neogastropoda, Muricidae) have been identified in the material collected by the MUSORSTOM 9 expedition to the Marquesas Islands . This coralliophiline fauna appears severely impoverished, compared to other West Pacific areas. At least half of the species (seven) are members of the shallow water fauna, an unusual pattern for the prevalently deep water coralliophilines, which may indicate an increase with depth of the effects of marginality on benthic faunas. One new species Coralliophila nukuhiva n. sp. is here described.
Key words: Coralliophilinae, Muricidae, Marquesas, systematics
New taxon. Coralliophila nukuhiva Oliverio, 2008
Date of publication. June 2008
Observations on the marine malacofauna of the Lamu Archipelago, Kenya
Torsten Wronski
Abstract. The marine malacofauna of the Lamu Archipelago in Northern Kenya was studied in 2001. In this paper, known data from Spry (1964, 1968), Sawyer (1999, 2000), Wronski (2007) and Rosenberg et al. (2004) are supplemented by the results of the author's fieldwork. A total of 55 gastropod and bivalve species was recorded; of which 23 are reported from Zanzibar but not listed in the East Africa section of the OBIS Inda-Pacific Molluscan Database. Five species (Pseudominolia climacota (Melvill, 1897); Terebra nassoides Hinds, 1844; Pupa cf solidula (Linne, 1758); Ostrea (Nanostrea) deformis Lamarck, 1819; Divaricella irplex (E.A. Smith, 1885)) were neither reported from Zanzibar nor listed by Rosenberg et al. (2004), and are therefore considered new for East Africa. The study represents the first comprehensive species list of marine gastropods and bivalves found in the tidal flats and beaches of the Lamu Archipelago.
Key words: Marine fauna, Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Kenya
Date of publication. June 2008
Dyolia n. gen. from the European Miocene-Pleistocene (Protobranchia: Nuculanidae)
Rafael La Perna & Luca Ragaini
Abstract. The nuculanids Leda mendax Meneghini in Appelius, 1871, from the Plio-Pleistocene of Italy and Leda reussi Hornes, 1865, from the Middle Miocene of Austria, are almost equilateral in shape, not rostrate, with a very shallow pallial sinus and a posterior radial swelling terminating in a rounded postero-ventral projection . Such a combination of shell characters is known only in these two species. For them, Dyolia n. gen. is proposed, with Leda mendax as type species. Relations with other nuculanids and the origin of Dyolia n. gen. are unclear. Taphonomic and morphofunctional observations on Dyolia mendax and D. reussi point to a specialization for muddy, soupy bottoms of the inner shelf, as shallow burrowers.
Key words. Protobranchia, Nuculanidae, new genus, Neogene, Pleistocene, deposit feeding
New taxon. Dyolia La Perna & Ragaini, 2008
Date of publication. June 2008
Stefan Meng & Jochen Gerber
Abstract. During the analyses of terrestrial gastropods from loess containing Palaeolithic archaeological remains in Southern Tajikistan, a new species of valloniid, here described as Vallonia ranovi n. sp., was encountered at a site at Khonako near Khovaling. The new species occurs in interglacial stages of the upper Middle Pleistocene and also near the lower boundary of the Upper Pleistocene (transition to MIS Se). Two shells of presumed Holocene age and a single modern shell, all collected 20km north of Khonako, are also assigned to V. ranovi n. sp.
Key words. Valloniidae, Vallonia ranovi, new species, Pleistocene, Tajikistan
New taxon. Vallonia ranovi Meng & Gerber, 2008
Date of publication. June 2008
Observations on Hygromia limbata (Draparnaud, 1905) (Pulmonata: Helicidae) in central England [Short Communication]
P.F. Whitehead
Date of publication. June 2008
Book Review: The land and Freshwater molluscs of the Balearic Islands
Beckmann, Karl-Heinz (with contributions by H.D. Boeters, J. Conde de Saro, G. Falkner, P. Cloer, C. Groh, H. Groh, J. Quintana, E. Rolan, Y. Terryn, A. Wiktor and M.L. Zettler): Die Land-und Süßwassermolluscen der Balearischen Inseln.
Dietrich Kadolsky
Date of publication. June 2008