Orthalicus Beck, 1837

Breure, Abraham S. H. & Avila, Valentin Mogollon, 2016, Synopsis of Central Andean Orthalicoid land snails (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora), excluding Bulimulidae, ZooKeys 588, pp. 1-199 : 49-50

Taxon classification Animalia Stylommatophora Orthalicidae

Genus Orthalicus Beck, 1837

Orthalicus Beck 1837: 59.

Type species.

Buccinum zebra Müller, 1774, by subsequent designation (Herrmannsen 1847 [1847-1849]: 159).

Description.

Shell ovate-conical, imperforate, rather thin, shell height up to ca. 45-75 mm (study area), colour whitish with usually longitudinal or zigzag stripes, and more or less modified by three equidistant spiral bands, surface with incrassate growth lines, sometimes with spiral lines or rarely with weak malleation, protoconch smooth, whorls hardly convex, suture well impressed, aperture (elongate-)ovate, skewed in side view, peristome thin and simple.

Distribution.

U.S.A. (Florida), Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago.

Habitat.

Species are occurring in dry to humid forests at elevations up to ca. 1500 m.

Anatomy.

Lehmann 1864: Orthalicus undatus ( Bruguière, 1789) [m]; Fischer and Crosse 1870-1878: Orthalicus longus Pfeiffer, 1856 [g, m, r]; Binney and Bland 1871: Orthalicus undatus [r]; Martens 1873: Orthalicus obductus Shuttleworth, 1856 [m, r]; Strebel and Pfeffer 1882: Orthalicus ferussaci Martens, 1864 [r], Orthalicus princeps (Broderip in Sowerby I and II, 1833 [1832-1841]) [g, m, r], Orthalicus zoniferus Strebel and Pfeffer, 1882 [g, m, r]; Pilsbry 1902 [1901-1902]: Orthalicus undatus jamaicensis Pilsbry, 1901 [g, p, r], Orthalicus longus [m], Orthalicus princeps (Broderip in Sowerby I and II, 1833 [1832-1841]) [g], Orthalicus pulchellus (Spix in Wagner, 1827) [g]; Breure and Schouten 1985: Orthalicus ferussaci , Orthalicus melanocheilus (Valenciennes, 1833), Orthalicus maracaibensis Pfeiffer, 1856, Orthalicus princeps , Orthalicus undatus , Orthalicus zoniferus Strebel and Pfeffer, 1882) [all g, r].

Phylogenetic data.

Breure et al. 2010: Orthalicus ponderosus Strebel and Pfeffer 1882.

Remarks.

Rehder (1945: 29-31) has elucidated the status of Buccinum zebra Müller, which had obscured the taxonomy of this group due to the high variation and many contradicting interpretations in literature. Nevertheless this genus urgently needs a thorough revision using morphological, anatomical and molecular data from specimens throughout the vaste distribution range. Additional to the species listed below, in some museum collections unidentified material of this genus has been listed. Some of these unverified records, collected from precise localities, are plotted as Orthalicus sp. in Figure 52.