Vargapupa oharai Páll-Gergely, 2015

Páll-Gergely, Barna & Grego, Jozef, 2019, Notes on Pseudopomatias Möllendorff, 1885 and Vargapupa Páll- Gergely, 2015 (Gastropoda: Caenogastropoda: Pupinidae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 67, pp. 586-594 : 591-593

Vargapupa oharai Páll-Gergely, 2015

( Fig. 6A, B )

Vargapupa oharai Páll-Gergely in Páll-Gergely et al., 2015: 42 , Fig. 8C.

Vargapupa huberi Thach, 2018: 22 , figs 147–151, 153 (lower image) 154 (right image) new synonym

Remarks. The type series of V. huberi were collected in Vietnam’s Ninh Binh Province, similarly to the ones of V. oharai . The differences given by Thach (2018) are the following: (1) The early whorls of V. huberi are more inflated and suture is more constricted than in V. oharai . To demonstrate this, Thach provides photos of the upper whorls of the two taxa. The differences are not visible on the two photos. Moreover, the image of V. huberi is more strongly enlarged than that of V. oharai , probably in order to support Thach’s claim. Furthermore, the illustrated specimen of V. huberi seemingly has a groove, probably caused by a physical damage in early juvenile stage. Therefore, it does not seem to be suitable for comparison. Examination of the holotype of V. huberi revealed that the apical whorls are normally developed. Thus, the provided image ( Thach, 2018: fig. 154 on page 98) are somehow modified and do not show the original condition of the shell. (2) The aperture deviates more to the right of shell axis in V. huberi than in V. oharai . Looking at the provided images, this statements also does not seem to be true. Moreover, none of the photos of V. huberi show the shell in the same orientation as V. oharai , and the photo of V. oharai ( Thach, 2018: Fig. 152 therein), is compressed from apex to base compared to the original one ( Páll-Gergely et al., 2015, Fig. 8C therein). (3) The outer lip of the aperture is more angulated, the umbilical area is broader, bordered by stronger and well visible keel (that is more exposed to frontal side). This, again, does not seem to be true based on the provided photos, at least not in a magnitude that would be meaningful for species distinction. Consequently, we regard Vargapupa huberi to be a synonym of Vargapupa oharai because no distinguishing characters can be detected between the two.

Figures

Fig. 6. Vargapupa oharai Páll-Gergely, 2015. A, Holotype (HNHM 98837); B, Holotype of Vargapupa huberi Thach, 2018 (NHMUK 20180251). Photos: A, B. Páll-Gergely; B, Kevin Webb (NHM). Scale bars = 5 mm; the smaller one refers to the photos of the whole shell, the larger one refers to the photos showing the lateral and basal side of the shells.