Vitrinidae Fitzinger 1833
Creators: name: Ruud, A. Bank
name: Menkhorst, Henk P. M. G
name: Neubert, Eike
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Stylommatophora
Vitrinidae

description: Familia Vitrinidae Fitzinger, 1833 From the European mainland, Turkey, the Caucasus and northern Africa (Libya and Algeria) several vitrinid genera have been reported, encompassing about 30 species. These are the genera <i>Eucobresia</i> H.B. Baker, 1929, <i>Hessemilimax</i> Schileyko, 1986, <i>Oligolimax</i> P. Fischer, 1878, <i>Phenacolimax</i> Stabile, 1859, <i>Sardovitrina</i> Manganelli &amp; Giusti, 2005, <i>Semilimacella</i> Soós, 1917, <i>Semilimax</i> Gray, 1847, <i>Vitrina</i> Draparnaud, 1801, and <i>Vitrinobrachium</i> Künkel, 1929. None of the species from these genera have a shell with a maximum diameter above 10 mm. The situation is different with respect to Macaronesia (Madeira, Canary Islands, Azores). It is home for 35 endemic species classified into the genera <i>Azorivitrina</i> Giusti, Fiorentino, Benocci &amp; Manganelli, 2011, <i>Canarivitrina</i> Valido &amp; Alonso, 2000, <i>Guerrina</i> Odhner, 1955, <i>Insulivitrina</i> P. Hesse, 1923, <i>Madeirovitrina</i> Groh &amp; Hemmen, 1986, and <i>Plutonia</i> Stabile, 1864. Shells of a number of vitrinids of Macaronesia are relatively large, and reach sizes above 11 mm: <i>Insulivitrina</i> and <i>Madeirovitrina</i>. <i>Calidivitrina</i> Pilsbry, 1919, is a genus endemic for the African continent. Representatives of this genus are known from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the eastern border of Congo-Kinshasa. These are: <i>bambuseti</i> (Thiele, 1911), <i>cagnii</i> (Pollonera, 1906), <i>chyuluensis</i> (Verdcourt, 2005), <i>ericinellae</i> (d’Ailly, 1910), <i>ibandensis</i> (Pollonera, 1907), <i>kiboschoensis</i> (d’Ailly, 1910), <i>lactae</i> Connolly, 1925, <i>lobeliaecola</i> (Dautzenberg, 1908), <i>nigrocincta</i> (E. von Martens, 1887), <i>oleosa</i> (E. von Martens, 1895) [= type species], <i>ugandensis</i> (Thiele, 1911), <i>tenuissima</i> (Thiele, 1911), <i>variopunctata</i> (Connolly, 1931), and <i>viridisplendens</i> (d’Ailly, 1910). The maximum diameter of the shell of most <i>Calidivitrina</i> species is in the range between 8 and 11 mm; the largest two species are <i>bambuseti</i> (12 mm) and <i>chyuluensis</i> (13 mm). The genus <i>Arabivitrina</i> Thiele, 1931 is distributed in Yemen and in the southwestern part of Saudi Arabia, namely <i>A. arabica</i> (Thiele, 1910) [= type species] and <i>A</i>. <i>jansseni</i> Neubert, 1998, as well as in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). The two taxa from Saudi Arabia / Yemen have been reviewed by Neubert (1998); the shell reaches a maximum diameter of about 21 and 18 mm, respectively. From Ethiopia a large number of taxa have been described that might be assigned to <i>Arabivitrina</i>. These are <i>abyssinica</i> (L. Peiffer, 1848), <i>antonellii</i> (Pollonera, 1888), <i>bianchii</i> (Pollonera, 1888), <i>caillaudi</i> (Morelet, 1872), <i>chiauzzii</i> (Bacci, 1940), <i>conquisita</i> (Jickeli, 1882), <i>darnaudi</i> (L. Pfeiffer, 1856), <i>demissa</i> (Pollonera, 1898), <i>devexa</i> (Jickeli, 1873), <i>giuliettii</i> (Pollonera, 1888), <i>grossepunctata</i> (Connolly, 1928), <i>helicoidea</i> (Jickeli, 1873), <i>herbini</i> (Bourguignat, 1883), <i>humilis</i> (Pollonera, 1898), <i>isseli</i> (Morelet, 1872), <i>jamjamensis</i> (Kobelt, 1905), <i>jickelii</i> (Jickeli, 1874), <i>licatae</i> (Pollonera, 1888), <i>martensii</i> (Jickeli, 1873), <i>martinii</i> (Pollonera, 1888), <i>milneedwardsiana</i> (Bourguignat, 1883), <i>modesta</i> (Pollonera, 1898), <i>naticoides</i> (Pollonera, 1888), <i>neumanni</i> Thiele, 1933, <i>olivacea</i> Thiele, 1933, <i>perobliqua</i> (Innes, 1884), <i>planulata</i> (Jickeli, 1873), <i>raffrayi</i> (Bourguignat, 1883), <i>ragazzii</i> (Pollonera, 1888), <i>riepiana</i> (Jickeli, 1882), and <i>semirugata</i> (Jickeli, 1873). However, the validity of these taxa is in most cases quite unclear: it is reasonable to assume that, after revision, several names turn out to be synonyms. Furthermore, it is even possible that some names do not belong to <i>Arabivitrina</i>, but to members of the superfamily Helicarionoidea. Most of the mentioned taxa have relatively large dimensions, i.e. the maximum diameter of the shell is in the range between 11 and 21 mm. Two species are exceptionally large, namely <i>licatae</i> and <i>ragazzii</i>, with reported sizes of 23 and 30 mm, respectively. For an introduction into the chaotic state of the African Vitrinidae we refer to Forcart (1956, 1978), Hubendick (1953) and Verdcourt (2005). Three vitrinid species have been reported from Madagascar: <i>madagascariensis</i> E.A. Smith, 1882, <i>marojeziana</i> Fischer-Piette, C. Blanc, F. Blanc &amp; Salvat, 1994, and <i>josephinae</i> Emberton &amp; Griffiths, 2009. However, the original figures of <i>marojeziana</i> and <i>josephinae</i> show an animal with a caudal horn; these taxa should therefore be assigned to the superfamily Helicarionoidea, as will undoubtedly be the case for <i>madagascariensis</i> as well. We stumbled upon a large Turkish vitrinid species collected at the Nemrud Da&amp;gbreve;, which we cannot assign to one of the above mentioned genera. A most likely closely related -but almost forgotten- species lives at several localities in Lebanon, currently known as <i>Vitrina libanica</i> Germain, 1911.
description: Published as part of <i>Ruud, A. Bank, Henk P. M. G Menkhorst &amp; Eike Neubert, 2016, Descriptions of new and little-known land snail taxa from Turkey, and establishment of a new genus (Gastropoda, Pulmonata: Lauriidae, Enidae and Vitrinidae), pp. 5-30 in Basteria 80 (1)</i> on pages 23-25, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.439745
description: {"references": ["VERDCOURT, B., 2005. A new species of Vitrina (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Vitrinidae) from Kenya with a discussion of the genus in East Africa. - Basteria 69 (4 / 6): 147 - 156.", "BANK, R. A. &amp; NEUBERT, E., 1998. Notes on Buliminidae, 5. On the systematic position of Arabian Buliminidae (Gastropoda Pulmonata), with the description of a new genus. - Basteria 61 (4 / 6): 73 - 84.", "HUBENDICK, B., 1953. The relationships of the East African Vitrinae with notes on the taxonomy of Vitrina. - Arkiv for Zoologi 6 (5): 83 - 96.", "FISCHER - PIETTE, E., BLANC, C. P., BLANC, F. &amp; SALVAT, F., 1994. Faune de Madagascar, 83. Gasteropodes terrestres pulmones (excl. Veronicellidae et g. Elisolimax): 1 - 551. Paris (Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris.", "EMBERTON, K. C. &amp; GRIFFITHS, O. L., 2009. Pulmonate land mollusks from three rainforest transects in northern Madagascar: part 2 of 2, with descriptions of 21 new species. - Archiv fur Molluskenkunde 138 (2): 169 - 203.", "GERMAIN, L., 1911. Note preliminaire sur les mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles recueillis par M. H. Gadeau de Kerville pendant son voyage en Syrie. - Bulletin du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle 17 (1): 27 - 32."]}