Melanoides tuberculatus (O.F. Mueller , 1774)

Gloeer, Peter & Pesic, Vladimir, 2012, The freshwater snails (Gastropoda) of Iran, with descriptions of two new genera and eight new species, ZooKeys 219, pp. 11-61 : 17

Melanoides tuberculatus (O.F. Mueller, 1774) Fig. 12b

New records.

Seistan and Baluchestan Province: IR8a-11 [5 juv.], IR8-11 [18 ex.]. Hormozgan Province: IR10-11 [3 ex.], IR17-11 [10 ad., 9 juv.], IR18-11 [1 ad., 8 juv.], IR19-11 [2 ex.].

Associated species.

Melanopsis doriae , Thiara scabra , Farsithyra farsensis .

Records from Iran.

Kerman Province (as Melania tuberculata : Issel 1863), Martens 1874, Biggs 1936, 1937, Starmühlner and Edlauer 1957); Seistan and Baluchestan Province (as Melanoides pyramis , Melanoides tigrina : Annandale and Prashad 1919, Biggs 1937); Hormozgan Province ( Biggs 1937, Starmühlner and Edlauer 1957), (as Melania tuberculata : Starmühlner (1961); Isfahan Province ( Biggs 1937); Yazd Province ( Starmühlner and Edlauer 1957, as Melania tuberculata : Starmühlner 1965); Khuzestan Province ( Chu et al. 1968, Mansoorian 2001); South Iran (Manssorian 1994); Fars Province ( Starmühlner and Edlauer 1957): Mazandran Province ( Starmühlner and Edlauer 1957, Mansoorian 2001).

Remarks.

The species Melanoides pyramis and Melanoides tigrina , which have been mentioned by Annandale and Prashad (1911) from Seistan and Baluchistan, have been listed by Westerlund (1886) as subspecies. However, due to the high morphological plasticity of Melanoides tuberculatus and in absence of any geographical seperation of these taxa, we list all Melanoides taxa under Melanoides tuberculatus .

Distribution.

S Asia, Arabia, Near East, Africa.

Figures

Figure 12. The prosobranch molluscs of Iran. a Theodoxus fluviatilis (operculum see Fig. 3 d) b Bithynia (Bithynia) ejecta (syntype ZMZ 524006, Iraq, Samava, ex coll. Mousson, photo: E. Neubert) c Melanoides tuberculatus d Thiara scabra e Melanopsis sp. f Melanopsis costata g Farsithyra farsensis h Sarkhia kermanshahensis, i: Pseudamnicola saboori k Pseudamnicola zagrosensis l Pseudobithynia irana m Pseudobithynia zagrosia n Valvata cristata.