ISSN 2755-3531
Barna Páll-Gergely & András Hunyadi
Abstract. Stenogyropsis cocoa n. sp., which is the second species of its genus, is described from the Chinese Gansu Province. The new species differs from S. potanini by the more slender, chocolate brown shell and the strong basal keel. The genital and urinary anatomy as well as the jaw and radular morphology of the new species is described.
Key words. Taxonomy, systematics, anatomy, new species, high-spired shell
New taxon. Stenogyropsis cocoa Páll-Gergely & Hunyadi, 2017
Date of publication. July 2017
Evidence of Shape sexual dimorphism in Strombus luhuanus Linnaeus 1758 (Gastropoda: Strombidae)
Katherine P. Sanchez-Escalona Porfirio A. Aliño & Ma. Antonette Juinio-Meñez
Abstract. Sexual size dimorphism of Strombus luhuanus was explored with geometric morphometrics. Using 39 landmarks and semi-landmarks, principal component analysis (PCA) showed possible separation of sexes with significant loadings on shoulder and the inner lip. Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) cross-validated classification showed males and females can be identified using the generated shape variables with 83.72% and 71.43% accuracy respectively. Examination of the generated mean shape showed that males are slimmer while females are more bulbous with vector changes along the inner lip and shoulder. Sexual shape may be related to differential energy allocation of reproduction with males spending more on finding a mate and females devoting more on egg production. Statistically quantified shape dimorphism will facilitate better understanding of reproductive behaviour and natural population dynamics of this species.
Key words. Sexual dimorphism, strombids, geometric morphometrics
Date of publication. July 2017
Leopoldo Moro, Jesús Ortea & Manuel Caballer
Abstract. Pleurobranchus lowei Watson, 1897 is a pleurobranchid gastropod that was described from Madeira Island and afterwards recorded in the Canary Islands. Its original description was not very detailed, perhaps because it was based on two empty shells, one of them broken. The validity and the taxonomic status of P. lowei have been discussed by different authors, but until recently, the actual appearance of the syntype of the species was only known by a drawing. The naticid genus Haliotinella Souverbie, 1875 is composed of medium sized snails with flattened nail-shaped shells. There are two valid species in the world: Haliotinella montrouzieri Souverbie, 1875, from New Caledonia, and Haliotinella patinaria Guppy, 1876, from the Lesser Antilles. As in the previous case, the taxonomic position of the genus Haliotinella has been subject to some controversy given that several authors considered that the shells where indeed shells of Pleurobranchidae. In this paper, the synonymy of P. lowei is proposed after the comparison of the type specimens of both species and the observation of samples of H. patinaria from the Canary Islands and the Caribbean.
Key words. Pleurobranchus lowei, synonymy, Haliotinella patinaria, controversial species, Canary Islands
Date of publication. July 2017
Cédric Audibert, Wim Backhuys & Abraham S.H. Breure
Abstract. Two letters, written in 1867 and 1878 respectively, illustrate the deteriorating relations between Bourguignat and Crosse. At the same time, they shed some light on the aftermath of the conflict between Bourguignat and Gassies concerning a publication by Paladilhe, and place into context the later frictions between the Société malacologique de France and the Journal de Conchyliologie.
Key words. Bourguignat, Crosse, Gassies, Paladilhe, French malacology
Date of publication. July 2017
Gastropods in Bhutan, the genus Rahula (Pulmonata: Helicarionidae)
Edmund Gittenberger, Pema Leda & Sherub Sherub
Abstract. Two species of the poorly known genus Rahula are described as new to science from Bhutan. These species bridge the distributional gap that hitherto existed between Sikkim in the west and Arunachal Pradesh in the east. Additionally the taxa that are considered Rahula species in the literature are listed. On the basis of these data, the fragmentary distribution of the genus, from the E Himalaya southwards to Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, is summarized.
Key words. Helicarionidae, Rahula, taxonomy, Bhutan, distribution
New taxa. Rahula kleini Gittenberger, Leda & Sherub, 2017; Rahula trongsaensis Gittenberger, Leda & Sherub, 2017
Date of publication. July 2017
A revision of the land-snail genera Otala and Eobania (Gastropoda, Helicidae) in Morocco and Algeria
David T. Holyoak & Geraldine A. Holyoak
Abstract. A taxonomic revision is presented of the genera Otala and Eobania in Morocco and Algeria based mostly on large collections of shells and anatomical specimens made in 1984, 1986 and 2016. Both genera, but especially Otala, show remarkably wide variations in shell coloration, size and form between local populations but often also much variation within the same
population. Both genera have suffered from recognition of far too many species, resulting from the remarkably variable shell characters of local populations and acceptance of narrowly defined “morphological species”. During the nineteenth century J.-R. Bourguignat dominated this work in Algeria and during the early twentieth century it was continued in Morocco by P. Pallary who was active as a shell dealer. For Otala sensu lato this resulted in a total of about 130 species names from the W. Maghreb region placed in five genera, frequently causing difficulties in reaching secure identifications. The present study reassesses variability in shells and genital anatomy from a total of 329 population samples and attempts to apply a biological rather than a morphological species concept. We recognise only five species of Otala in the region (O. lactea, O. punctata, O. xanthodon (syn. dupotetiana), O. tingitana, O. hieroglyphicula), and a single species of Eobania (E. vermiculata), present a key for their identification, synonymies, distribution maps and illustrations of their shells and genital anatomy. The ranges and ecology of these species are discussed and their morphological evolution is reconsidered in the light of recently published molecular phylogenies. A neotype is designated for O. lactea and the type localities are restricted for O. punctata and O. xanthodon.
Key words. Otala, Eobania, Helicidae, taxonomy, nomenclature, shells, genital anatomy, Morocco, Algeria, habitats, distribution, evolution, intraspecific variation, hybridization
Date of publication. July 2017
Redescription of Acanthochitona terezae
Jaime A. Jardim, Sergio M. Almeida & Luiz L. Simone
Abstract. Acanthochitona terezae Guerra-Junior, 1983 was described based on 18 specimens collected at the intertidal zone of Bahia state, off Itapuã, NE Brazil. However, important taxonomic features were not addressed in the original description and the type specimens were deposited in neither the designated museum nor anywhere else, which makes the identity of this species unclear. The present paper designates a neotype from Espírito Santo state, and provides a redescription based on the neotype and some additional specimens in order to clarify its identity. The new data extends the species’ range approximately 1000km southwards from the type locality.
Key words. Acanthochitona terezae, redescription, neotype, new records, Brazil
Date of publication. July 2017
Brian Morton
Abstract. On Queensland’s ocean beaches on North Stradbroke Island, the naticid gastropod Conuber incei attacks both juvenile Donax deltoides and Paphies elongata. This study of prey size and drill hole locations in the latter species from five wave exposed beaches on the island suggests a high degree of stereotypy in contrast to the congeneric C. conicum inhabiting a sheltered muddy beach at Monkey Mia in Shark Bay, Western Australia. On this latter beach type, a wide range of prey was attacked at a variety of shell valve locations and with little evidence of stereotypy. In the case of C. incei, however, there is close evidence for prey size and drill hole stereotypy possibly arguing for, in such a situation, a greater degree of predator-prey intimacy and, thus, possibly, co-evolution.
Date of publication. July 2017
New and little-known Clausiliidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) from Laos and southern Vietnam
Barna Páll-Gergely & Miklós Szekeres
Abstract. Recently collected materials held at the Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris) yielded important new information on the Clausiliidae of Laos and Vietnam. The data considerably increase and refine the hitherto scarce knowledge on the distribution of the Garnieria Bourguignat, 1877 and Grandinenia Minato & Chen, 1984 species of Laos, and reveal a new Vietnamese subgenus, Garnieria (Doducsangia) subgen. nov. (type species: Garnieria mouhoti nhuongi Do, 2015). From the Hon Ba Nature Reserve of Vietnam’s Khanh Hoa Province Oospira naggsi parva subsp. nov., Castanophaedusa fontainei gen. nov. sp. nov., and Messageriella gargominyi gen. nov. sp. nov. are described as new taxa. The zoogeographical significance of these findings is discussed.
Key words. Garnieriinae, Phaedusinae, taxonomy, new taxa, zoogeography
New taxa. Doducsangia Páll-Gergely & Szekeres, 2017; Oospira naggsi parva Páll-Gergely & Szekeres, 2017; Castanophaedusa Páll-Gergely & Szekeres, 2017; Castanophaedusa fontainei Páll-Gergely & Szekeres, 2017; Messageriella Páll-Gergely & Szekeres, 2017; Messageriella gargominyi Páll-Gergely & Szekeres, 2017
Date of publication. July 2017
Annika Pieterse, Antoinette P. Malan, Willem Sirgel & Jenna L. Ross
Abstract. The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution and feeding behaviour of the South African predatory slug, Chlamydephorus gibbonsi Binney, 1879 (Mollusca: Gastropoda), which is endemic to the eastern region, but has now spread to the Western Cape province (WCP). A total of 210 C. gibbonsi specimens were collected from the WCP between January 2012 and December 2015. Slug numbers were found to steadily increase from nine specimens collected in 2012, to 111 specimens collected in 2015, indicating establishment of C. gibbonsi in its new habitat. Of the sample sites studied, 13.7% were found to be positive for C. gibbonsi, including sites in George, Knysna, Swellendam, Hermanus and Stellenbosch. The habitats of positive sample sites were all commercial nurseries. Feeding behaviour of C. gibbonsi is described using an earthworm of the genus Amynthas.
Key words. Chlamydephoridae, distribution, feeding, invasion, earthworms
Date of publication. July 2017
A new species of Annulariidae from eastern-most Hispaniola (Gastropoda, Littorinoidea)
G. Thomas Watters & Christa Frank-Fellner
Abstract. Colonina gerhardfellneri is a new species described from eastern Hispaniola in the Dominican Republic. Colonina gerhardfellneri is characterized by a colour pattern of spirally arranged small brown spots, appressed sutural tufts, and the near absence of spiral sculpture. It is compared with the similar Colonina dominicensis (Pfeiffer, 1850). Haitipoma abbotti Bartsch, 1946, and Haitipoma catalinense Bartsch, 1946, are synonymized with Colonina dominicensis (Pfeiffer, 1850).
Key words. Annulariidae, Hispaniola, Dominican Republic, systematics
New taxon. Colonina gerhardfellneri Watters & Frank-Fellner, 2017
Date of publication. July 2017
First record of Leptinaria lamellata (Potiez & Michaud) as a greenhouse species in Europe [Short Communication]
Ted von Proschwitz
First evidence of the poorly ribbed cockle, Acanthocardia paucicostata (G. B. Sowerby II, 1834) in UK waters [Short Communication]
Peter Barfield