Clessiniola variabilis

Wesselingh, Frank, Poorten, Jan Johan ter, Kijashko, Pavel, Albrecht, Christian, Anistratenko, Olga Yu, Frolov, Pavel, Gándara, Alberto Martinez, Gittenberger, Arjan, Gogaladze, Aleksandre, Mikhail Karpinsky, Popa, Luis, Sands, Arthur F, Vandendorpe, Justine & Wilke, Thomas, 2019, Mollusc species from the Pontocaspian region - an expert opinion list, ZooKeys 827, pp. 31-124 : 73-74

Clessiniola variabilis (Eichwald, 1838)

*1838 Paludina variabilis Eichwald: 151-152.

1838 Paludina Triton Eichwald: 152.

1874 Bithynia ? Eichwaldi Martens: 81.

?1887 Caspia Grimmi Clessin and Dybowski in Dybowski: 39

?1888 [ Caspia ] Grimmi n. sp. - Dybowski: 79, pl. 3, fig. 5a, b.

1887 Clessinia Martensii Clessin and Dybowski in Dybowski: 43.

1888 Clessinia Martensii n. sp. - Dybowski: 79, pl. 2, fig. 5.

1902a Clessinia ahngeri Westerlund: 45-46.

1966 P.[yrgula] (Clessiniola) pseudotriton Golikov and Starobogatov: 356-357, fig. 2(3

?1969 Pyrgula (Caspiella) derbentina Logvinenko and Starobogatov: 374, fig. 366(8).

1969 Pyrgula (Caspiella) ovum Logvinenko and Starobogatov: 374, fig. 366(9).

1969 Pyrgula (Caspiella) trivialis Logvinenko and Starobogatov: 374-375, fig. 366(10).

1987 Turricaspia (Clessiniola) variabilis (Eichwald, 1838). - Alexenko and Starobogatov: 34, text fig. 5.

1987 Turricaspia (Clessiniola) triton (Eichwald, 1838). - Alexenko and Starobogatov: 34, text fig. 3.

1987 Turricaspia (Clessiniola) martensii (Clessin & Dybowski in Dybowski, 1888). - Alexenko and Starobogatov: 34, text fig. 4.

1987 Turricaspia (Clessiniola) bogensis ( Küster, 1852). - Alexenko and Starobogatov: 34.

2006 Turricaspia variabilis (Eichwald, 1838). - Kantor and Sysoev: 111, pl. 49, fig. J.

2011 Turricaspia martensii (Clessin & W. Dybowski in W. Dybowski, 1888). - Anistratenko et al.: 86, fig. 3(17).

2011 Turricaspia triton (Eichwald, 1838). - Anistratenko et al.: 85-86, fig. 3(16).

2011 Turricaspia variabilis (Eichwald, 1838). - Anistratenko et al.: 85, fig. 3(15).

2014 Turricaspia variabilis . - Taviani et al.: 4, fig. 3b.

?2016 Turricaspia derbentina (Logvinenko & Starobogatov, 1968). - Vinarski and Kantor: 247.

2016 Turricaspia martensii (Clessin & W. Dybowski in W. Dybowski, 1888). - Vinarski and Kantor: 248.

2016 Turricaspia ovum (Logvinenko & Starobogatov, 1968). - Vinarski and Kantor: 248-249.

2016 Turricaspia pseudotriton (Golikov & Starobogatov, 1966). - Vinarski and Kantor: 249.

2016 Turricaspia triton (Eichwald, 1838). - Vinarski and Kantor: 250.

2016 Turricaspia trivialis (Logvinenko & Starobogatov, 1968). - Vinarski and Kantor: 250-251.

2016 Turricaspia variabilis (Eichwald, 1838).- Vinarski and Kantor: 251.

2018 Clessiniola variabilis (Eichwald, 1838). - Neubauer et al.: 60-63, fig. 7 A–I.

Status. Accepted Pontocaspian species.

Type locality. At the Volga River mouth near Astrakhan, and towards the Caspian Sea; also in recently lithified fossil limestone at the shores of Dagestan, Russia.

Distribution. Caspian Sea, Azov Sea, and northern Black Sea region. This species was mentioned in the South Caspian Basin of Azerbaijan ( Mirzoev and Alekperov 2017, who reported the species as Turricaspia variabilis , T. derbentica , and T. trivialis ).

Taxonomic notes. Neubauer et al. (2018) recently demonstrated the high variability of this species. Comparison of available illustrations and descriptions of the species listed in the synonymy list indicates that all of them range within this species’ variability. Consequently, we consider all of them as junior synonyms of C. variabilis . A more in-depth review of the type material of the species involved is required to confirm this approach.

The status of Paludina bogensis Dubois in Küster, 1852, which was listed as a valid species of Turricaspia by Anistratenko and Stadnichenko (1995), is still unclear. That species was described from the Zapadnyi Bug River in Poland and closely resembles C. variabilis . It is, however, unlikely that a Pontocaspian species typical of oligohaline conditions occurs so far away in a pure freshwater environment. " Paludina eichwaldi Krynicki, 1837" found in the literature is a nomen nudum. Martens (1874) provided measurements and made the name available, but he listed Paludina variabilis Eichwald, 1838 in synonymy, which has priority. Dybowski (1887) obviously overlooked this and considered Nematurella eichwaldi Krynicki a valid species. We follow Vinarski and Kantor (2016) and consider the species as a junior synonym of Clessiniola variabilis .

Conservation status. Least Concern ( Cioboiu et al. 2011).