Plectostylus elegans (Pfeiffer, 1842)

Araya, Juan Francisco & Catalan, Ricardo, 2014, A review of the non-bulimulid terrestrial Mollusca from the Region of Atacama, northern Chile, ZooKeys 398, pp. 33-51 : 37

Plectostylus elegans (Pfeiffer, 1842) Figs 3.10-3.14, Table 2

Succinea elegans Pfeiffer, 1842: 56; Pfeiffer 1852: 187. Bulimus elegans : Hupé in Gay 1854: 104, pl. 3, fig. 2. Bulimulus coquimbensis Var. elegans : Pilsbry 1897: 11, pl. 8, figs 18-22. Plectostylus coquimbensis perelegans : Breure 1978: 201, pl. 9, fig. 14. Plectostylus elegans : Breure 1979: 9; Stuardo and Vega 1985: 136; Valdovinos and Stuardo 1988: 129, figs 86-88. Pl. 3, figs 34-36. Plectostylus perelegans : Valdovinos 1999: 151; Neubert and Janssen 2004: 222, Taf. 13, fig. 159; Plectostylus broderipii : Breure and Ablett 2012: 34, figs 5 E–F, 5ii. (syn. n).

Material examined.

Barranquilla beach (27°21'29"S, 70°20'24"W), Commune of Caldera, RCG (unnumbered), 5 specimens. Aguas verdes (26°52'S, 70°48'W), Commune of Caldera, 3 specimens. MZUC 39619 (lot).

Diagnosis.

Shells thin, elongate-globose, with convex and slightly shouldered whorls, decorated with axial greyish, and brownish-reddish, streaks. Last whorl very ample, lip simple, periostracum shiny and transparent.

Distribution and remarks.

Huasco (28°20'S, 71°15'W) ( Valdovinos and Stuardo 1988). The specimens here studied constitute the northernmost record for this species. Breure and Ablett (2012) synonymized this species as Plectostylus broderipii . However, the shells here examined were much lighter, thinner and broader than Plectostylus broderipii . Shell patterns, which are contained in the thin outer shell layer, can easily differenciate Plectostylus elegans from Plectostylus broderipii in having axially marked reddish-brown lines, even in juvenile specimens. Only extensive comparative anatomy, including soft parts as well as shell morphology, would certainly help to establish its true identity.