Bellardiella Tapparone-Canefri, 1883

Varga, András & Páll-Gergely, Barna, 2017, A review of Bellardiella Tapparone-Canefri, 1883, with descriptions of a new subgenus and two new species (Gastropoda: Cyclophoroidea: Pupinidae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 65, pp. 386-394 : 387

Genus Bellardiella Tapparone-Canefri, 1883

Bellardiella Tapparone-Canefri, 1883: 265 .

Type species. Bellardiella martensiana Tapparone-Canefri, 1883 by monotypy.

Diagnosis. The genus Bellardiella is characterised by an umbilical tube, which is a passage without a suture on the side of the peristome.

Remarks. Porocallia Möllendorff, 1893 (and Sulapina Maassen & Kittel, 1996 , which is probably a synonym of Porocallia ; see Egorov, 2013) also possesses an umbilical tube, but the shell is small, polished, glossy, resembling those of Pupina Vignard, 1829.

Pupinella is similar in shell shape and the formation of the aperture, but it has an umbilical passage, which possess a suture (furrow) on the side of the peristome. The umbilical passage of the lower apertural angle of Pupinella is very variable. In Pupinella macgregori E. A. Smith, 1889 , and Pupinella minor E. A. Smith, 1889 , the canal rolls up in the direction of the umbilicus and forms a structure which is practically a tube open only at both ends. However, the slit-like suture along the canal is always visible from the direction of the peristome, whereas it is always closed in adult Bellardiella shells. In other Pupinella species (e.g. P. louisiadensis E. A. Smith, 1889 ; P. rosseliana E. A. Smith, 1889 ; P. xanthostoma van Benthem-Jutting, 1933 ) there is a shallow canal on the lower angle of the peristome, which do not form a completely (or almost completely) closed tunnel. The type species of the genus ( Pupinella pupiniformis Sowerby, 1842 ; see Fig. 1 A–C) has a short canal, which is seemingly intermediate between the two former kinds. Therefore, we use the terms “umbilical tube” only for Bellardiella , and “umbilical passage” for Pupinella . See also remarks under Bellardiella minor .

Möllendorff (1899) claimed that Bellardiella should be considered a subgenus of Pupinella , because juvenile Bellardiella shells possess a canal, similar to adult Pupinella shells. Here, in agreement with Egorov (2013), we treat Bellardiella as a full genus.

Figures

Fig. 1. Shells of Pupinidae. A–C, Pupinella pupiniformis (Sowerby, 1842) (Philippinen, Meriguit, leg. Semper, coll. Kobelt, SMF 155482); D–G, lectotype of Bellardiella (Bellardiella) martensiana (MSNG, without inventory number); H–S, Bellardiella (Bellardiella) minor Hedley, 1891. H–M, lectotype; N–S, paralectotype (= juvenile shell). Photos: B. Páll-Gergely (A–C), M. Tavano (D–G) and Alison C. Miller (H–S) (copyright: Australian Museum). Scale represents 5 mm.