Pseudocleopatra broecki ( Putzeys, 1899 ) Neiber & Kahl & Wiggering & Glaubrecht, 2019

Neiber, Marco T., Kahl, Sandra M., Wiggering, Benedikt & Glaubrecht, Matthias, 2019, Adding the West-African riverine component: Revision of the Recent freshwater snails belonging to Pseudocleopatra Thiele, 1928 (Caenogastropoda, Cerithioidea, Paludomidae), Zootaxa 4674 (3), pp. 301-328 : 320-322

Pseudocleopatra broecki ( Putzeys, 1899) n. comb.

Figs 8D, E , 19–21

Cleopatra broecki Putzeys, 1899: 60 , fig. 16; Kobelt (1905: 234); Kobelt (1909: 383, 398, pl. 76 fig. 18); Prashad (1928: 184); Pilsbry & Bequaert (1927: 296); Roberts & Stewart (1976: 243); Glaubrecht & Strong (2007: 370, 371, 374, 386, 393); Glaubrecht (2010a: 287–290, figs 2c–f, 3, 4a, b, 5d–f); Glaubrecht (2011: 205). Cleopatra broecki var. zonata Putzeys, 1899: 60 ; Kobelt (1909: 398). Potadomoides ? broecki — Mandahl-Barth (1967: 130) . Pseudocleopatra bennikei Mandahl-Barth, 1974: 355 –356, fig. 2a; Brown (1980: 111–113, fig. 63g); Danish Bilharziasis Labo- ratory (1982: 25, 50, fig. 78); Brown (1994: 22, 128–129, 539, 568, figs 6c, 61g); Glaubrecht (1996: 144, 146); Jørgensen (2010a: e.T184517A8285063); Graf et al. (2011: 51, 53). (?) Potadomoides broecki — Brown (1980: 114 , fig. 64d); Brown (1994: 130–131, fig. 62d). Potadomoides broecki — Danish Bilharziasis Laboratory (1982: 22 , 23, 50, fig. 76); Jørgensen (2010c: e.T184714A8320150).

Type locality. “Trouvé sur des valves d’Aethéries de la rivière Aruwimi, affluent du Congo”; found on the valves of Etheria bivalves from Aruwimi River , an affluent of Congo River ; more precisely: “Basoko”; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tshopo , Basoko, Aruwimi River, 01°14’00” N, 23°36’45” E (see Glaubrecht 2010a) .

Type material. All from the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Cleopatra broecki : lectotype (designation by Glaubrecht 2010a), MRAC 47360; paralectotype, MRAC 47361 , from the type locality. Cleopatra broecki var. zonata : holotype, “Basoko” (= Tshopo , Basoko, Aruwimi River, 01°14’00” N, 23°36’45” E), MRAC 47362 . Pseudocleopatra bennikei : holotype, “River Zaïre between Mimosa Island and Monkey Island, off Kinshasa.” (= Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa , Congo River between Île des Singes and Île des Mimosa, 4°19’35” S, 15°13’10” E), MRAC 799156 , leg. T. Bennike ; paratypes: “Between Mimosa Island and Monkey Island, Kinshasa” (= Kinshasa , Congo River between Île des Singes and Île des Mimosa, 4°19’35” S, 15°13’10” E), DBL 2584 , leg. T. Bennike, 25 specimens ; “Between Mimosa Island and Monkey Island” (= Kinshasa , Congo River between Île des Singes and Île des Mimosa, 4°19’35’’ S, 15°13’10’’ E), DBL 2590 , leg. T. Bennike, 6 specimens ; “Île des Mimosa. Kinshasa” (= Kinshasa , Congo River, Île des Mimosa, ca. 4°19’33” S, 15°13’30” E), MRAC 799157 , leg. T. Bennike, 7 specimens ; “At Kala Kala” (= Kongo Central Province , Kala Kala near Matadi, ca. 5°49’37” S, 13°26’37” E), DBL 2585 , leg. T. Bennike, 5 specimens ; at Matadi (= Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kongo Central Province , Congo River at Matadi, ca. 5°49’15” S, 13°27’00” E), DBL 2589 , 3 specimens .

Other material examined. All from the Democratic Republic of the Congo: “near Luozi, Kibunzi, Zaire (= Kongo Central Province, Luozi, 04°57’00” S, 14°08’15” E), MCZ 171520, leg. W. Wanson, 13 specimens; “ 3 km E of Inga, Zaire River mainstream from fish stomach” (= Kongo Central Province, 3 km E of Inga, Congo River, main stream, 05°27’30” S, 13°36’00” E), MCZ 294126 , leg. T. Roberts and D. Stewart, 4 specimens .

Shell ( Fig. 19 ). The shell of P. broecki is yellowish brown to brown, sometimes with darker brown band below the suture and/or along the periphery, and has an ovate to conical shape, with up to five whorls (usually with eroded spire, then only two to three whorls remaining). The whorls are rather flat just below the suture up to the obtusely angled shoulder. Below the shoulder the whorls are rather convex, usually with a blunt angle at the periphery. The sculpture of the shell consists of very fine, irregular growth lines that are rarely crossed by indistinct spiral lines. The aperture is holostome and ovate, slightly higher than wide and slightly drawn out at the upper angle; its outer margin is not sinuous, but almost straight in lateral view. The basal margin is evenly rounded. The columella is slightly curved and a parietal callus is usually well-developed. Umbilicus slit-like in juveniles, closed in subadults and adults.

Measurements (n = 50). h: 10.60 ± 2.00 mm (range: 5.4–14.0 mm); w: 8.89 ± 1.69 mm (range: 5.0– 11.6 mm); bw: 6.62 ± 1.76 mm (range: 5.4–12.4 mm); la: 7.36 ± 1.40 mm (range: 4.0– 10.1 mm); wa: 5.28 ± 1.10 mm (range: 2.9–7.0 mm).

Ratios (n = 50). h/w: 1.19 ± 0.08 (range: 1.04–1.52); h/la: 1.44 ± 0.07 (range: 1.33–1.61).

Operculum ( Fig. 8D, E ). The operculum is corneous, with a concentric, paucispiral, rather large nucleus that can reach up to ½ of the maximum diameter.

Radula ( Fig. 20 ). The rachidian tooth is squarish to rounded, nearly as wide as high; its cutting edge is tapering to a slightly V-shaped tip bearing 7/1/7 denticles. The mesocone is quite prominent, being ca. two times longer as well as two to three times wider than the lateral denticles. The lateral teeth have relatively short but straight lateral extensions. The cutting edge bears 2–3/1/9 denticles with the mesocone being the largest and widest. It is two to three times wider and ca. ⅓ longer than the flanking denticles and of rounded shape. Towards the outside of the lateral teeth the lengths of the flanking denticles are decreasing. Inner and outer marginal teeth subequal in size and slightly curved. Both the inner and outer marginals bear 18–20 small denticles each that are of approximately the same size.

Distribution ( Fig. 21 ). Pseudocleopatra broecki is only known from the Congo River between the confluence with the Aruwimi River and the region between Kinshasa and Matadi. Putzeys (1899: 60) remarks that the species was collected on the shells of a freshwater bivalve. This could suggest that this species lives on hard substrates.

Remarks. Glaubrecht (2010a) included samples (MCZ 171520, MCZ 294126) from the lower Congo River in the nominal taxon Cleopatra broecki Putzeys, 1899 . Comparing these samples with the type material of the nominal species Pseudocleopatra bennikei Mandahl-Barth, 1974 showed no differences in size or shape. Moreover, these samples also conform to the type material of P. bennikei in characteristic traits of the shell and the operculum, e.g. an obtuse angle at the periphery of the body whorl, an aperture with an almost straight outer margin in lateral view, shell sculpture consisting usually only of fine growth lines and an operculum with a large paucispiral nucleus. We follow Glaubrecht (2010a) in regarding the samples examined by him from the lower Congo (MCZ 171520, MCZ 294126) to be conspecific with C. broecki , which was described from Basoko at the confluence of the Aruwimi River with the Congo River. With the above said, we therefore consider the samples from the lower Congo River collected between Kinshasa and Matadi and the samples from the Aruwimi River to represent only a single species. Accordingly, we synonymize P. bennikei with C. broecki . The synonymy of C. broecki and C. broecki var. zonata Putzeys, 1899 from the same locality (Basoko) was already proposed by Pilsbry and Bequaert (1927) and confirmed by Glaubrecht (2010b) on the basis of comparing the type material of both taxa.

Originally described as Cleopatra broecki by Putzeys (1899), the taxon was tentatively transferred to Potadomoides by Mandahl-Barth (1967) and subsequently re-transferred to Cleopatra by Glaubrecht (2010a). We here propose to transfer the taxon now to Pseudocleopatra , i.e. to classify it as P. broecki ( Putzeys, 1899) n. comb., because of the relatively high number of ca. 15 denticles on rachidian and an operculum with a paucispiral nucleus approximately half as wide as the operculum.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Opercula of Pseudocleopatra Thiele, 1928 species. A. Lectotype of P. togoensis Thiele, 1928, ZMB 190048b. B. Paratype of Pseudocleopatra voltana Mandahl-Barth, 1973, Mogeyenga village, DBL 2591. C. Probable paratype of Pseudocleopatra dartevellei Mandahl-Barth, 1973, Matadi, DBL 2583. D. Pseudocleopatra broecki (Putzeys, 1899) n. comb., MCZ 171520. E. Lectotype of Pseudocleopatra broecki (Putzeys, 1899) n. comb., MRAC 47360. Scale bar: 1mm.

FIGURE 19. Shells of Pseudocleopatra broecki (Putzeys, 1899) n. comb. A. Lectotype of Cleopatra broecki Putzeys, 1899, MRAC 47360. B. Paralectotype of Cleopatra broecki Putzeys, 1899, MRAC 47361. C. Holotype of Cleopatra broecki var. zonata Putzeys, 1899, MRAC 47362. D. Holotype of Pseudocleopatra bennikei Mandahl-Barth, 1974, MRAC 799156. E. Paratype of Pseudocleopatra bennikei Mandahl-Barth, 1974, DBL 2584. F. Paratype of Pseudocleopatra bennikei Mandahl-Barth, 1974, DBL 2585. A–C modified from Glaubrecht (2010a). Scale bar: 5 mm.

FIGURE 20. Radula of Pseudocleopatra broecki (Putzeys, 1899) n. comb., MCZ 171520 (modified from Glaubrecht 2010a).A. Radula ribbon, scale bar: 10 μm. B. Lateral and central teeth, scale bar: 10 μm. C. Marginal teeth, scale bar: 10 μm.

FIGURE 21. Known occurrence records of Pseudocleopatra broecki (Putzeys, 1899) n. comb. in the Congo River system. Asterisks indicate type localities; 1: type locality of Cleopatra broecki Putzeys, 1899 and Cleopatra broecki var. zonata Putzeys, 1899; 2: type locality of Pseudocleopatra bennikei Mandahl-Barth, 1974. The arrow indicates the approximate location of the Inga dams.