Helix bellinii Bellini, 1915: 166

Fasulo, Giuseppe, Duraccio, Sergio, Federico, Antonio & Crocetta, Fabio, 2019, The (almost) unknown Italian naturalist Raffaello Bellini (1874 - 1930): biography malacological publications, and status of his recent molluscan taxa, Zootaxa 4668 (3), pp. 343-369 : 359

Helix bellinii Bellini, 1915: 166 [ex Monterosato ms.]

Type locality: Capri Island (Naples, Italy) .

Original description: “affine alla H. Cerioi , ma più piccola e più depressa” [similar to H. cerioi— see above for discussions on this taxon —, but smaller and more depressed].

Material examined: two shells labelled by Monterosato “ Helix Bellinii, Monts mss.—Villa Bellini a Cata-nia— 26 Marzo 1891 ” (MCZR-M-1286) belongs to the Cernuella cisalpina (Rossmässler, 1837) species complex ( Fig. 7A, B ). Petraccioli (2005) mentioned the presence of specimens preserved in MCCIC holding original labels handwritten by Bellini, but without listing the exact location. We were not able to find them.

Remarks: considered a junior synonym of Monacha gregaria (Rossmässler, 1839) by Sacchi (1955b) and of Monacha cantiana (Montagu, 1803) by Petraccioli (2005). Alzona (1971) initially considered Helix bellinii Bellini, 1915 a synonym of M. gregaria and then a species dubia. Monacha gregaria is now considered a Sicilian endemic ( Bodon et al. 1995; Welter-Schultes 2012), and in this line Petraccioli et al. (2006) excluded its presence from Capri. Monacha cantiana , as well as H. cerioi (see above for a taxonomic status similar to that of H. bellinii ), were also considered originally uncommon in Capri Island by Bellini (1900a); Petraccioli et al. (2005, 2006) did not find it during recent samplings held in Capri Island, and only listed Monacha cartusiana (Müller, 1774) as present. Noteworthy, species-level taxonomy of the genus Monacha Fitzinger, 1833 , and particularly of the M. cantiana species complex, is still unresolved ( Welter-Schultes 2012; Neiber & Hausdorf 2016; Pieńkowska et al. 2018, 2019). Apart of that, the absence of type material and even figures in any paper published by Bellini, as well as the taxonomic status of H. cerioi to which it is compared (see above), led to the conclusion that it is considered a nomen dubium ( ICZN 2012: glossary).

Figures

FIGURE 7. A, B. Helix bellinii. A. Shells from Catania (11.6×16.2 mm, 11.5×14.9 mm). B. Original labels handwritten by Monterosato. MCZR-M-1286. C, D. Helix (Xerophila) subprofuga var. turriculata. C. Material from Capri Island (Naples) (3–6×5–9 mm). D. Original label handwritten by Bellini. MCCIC—drawer 19, n. 297a.