Bellardiella (Bellardiella) minor Hedley, 1891

Varga, András & Páll-Gergely, Barna, 2017, A review of Bellardiella Tapparone-Canefri, 1883, with descriptions of a new subgenus and two new species (Gastropoda: Cyclophoroidea: Pupinidae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 65, pp. 386-394 : 390-392

Bellardiella (Bellardiella) minor Hedley, 1891

( Fig. 1 H–S)

Bellardiella minor Hedley, 1891: 102 , Plate 12, Fig. 35. Bellardiella minor , — Benthem Jutting, 1933: 83, Fig. 12. Bellardiella (Litabella) minor , — Iredale, 1941: 62.

Bellardiella minor , — Benthem-Jutting, 1963: 692.

Diagnosis. A small (H: 11.7–12.3 mm, D: 7.4–7.6 mm) Bellardiella species with conical-ovoid, finely striated shell, closed umbilicus, slightly rectangular aperture with pointed parieto-palatal incision, a weak parietal callus, a moderately thickened peristome, and an umbilical tube, which is attached to the peristome.

Type locality. “ Mission Hill , near the village of Ngauauni, upon the upper waters of the St. Joseph; I found several dead specimens in a banana garden” .

Remarks. Operculum unknown. Photos of a lectotype (AM, C.111435, specimen “b”) and two paralectotypes (C.545028, specimens “a” & “c”) were examined.

Iredale (1941) classified B. minor into its own subgenus (Litabella Iredale, 1941) based on the more pointed spire, more swollen body whorl, more circular aperture and the absence of an umbilicus. This classification was not followed by subsequent authors (Benthem-Jutting, 1963; Egorov, 2013). We also regard it as a synonym of Bellardiella , because none of the characters mentioned are sufficient for subgeneric differentiation. The umbilicus of B. crassilabris is nearly closed by the reflected peristome; therefore this character seemingly shows clinal variability across Bellardiella species.

The umbilical tube of a juvenile specimen of B. minor ( Fig. 1 N–S) is not closed entirely by the peristome. This indicates that the umbilical tube is initially formed as a canal similar to that of Pupinella ( Fig. 1 A–C), and later transformed to a tube by the peristome.

Benthem-Jutting (1963) reports the species from the following localities: “Batavia bivak, on the Mamberamo River” ( Batavia falls = formerly Dabra , Mamberamo, Foja Mountains, ca. 2°48′S, 138°19′E), and “Mt. Grobar near Murara, between rivers Waim and Apauer” (which we could not find on the map) .

Figures

Fig. 1. Shells of Pupinidae. A–C, Pupinella pupiniformis (Sowerby, 1842) (Philippinen, Meriguit, leg. Semper, coll. Kobelt, SMF 155482); D–G, lectotype of Bellardiella (Bellardiella) martensiana (MSNG, without inventory number); H–S, Bellardiella (Bellardiella) minor Hedley, 1891. H–M, lectotype; N–S, paralectotype (= juvenile shell). Photos: B. Páll-Gergely (A–C), M. Tavano (D–G) and Alison C. Miller (H–S) (copyright: Australian Museum). Scale represents 5 mm.