Bulimus demerarensis Pfeiffer, 1861

Breure, Abraham S. H. & Ablett, Jonathan D., 2015, Annotated type catalogue of the Megaspiridae, Orthalicidae, and Simpulopsidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Orthalicoidea) in the Natural History Museum, London, ZooKeys 470, pp. 17-143 : 25

Bulimus demerarensis Pfeiffer, 1861 Figs 21vi-viii, L6ii

Bulimus demerarensis Pfeiffer 1861a [April]: 14; Pfeiffer 1861b [May]: 24; Breure 1979: 127.

Drymaeus demerarensis ; Pilsbry 1898 [1897-1898]: 306.

Leiostracus (Leiostracus) demerarensis ; Breure 1978: 227 (lectotype designation).

Bostryx demerarensis ; Muratov and Gargominy 2011: 612, fig. 2B.

Type locality.

[Guiana] “Demerara”.

Label.

“Demerara”, taxon label in Pfeiffer’s handwriting. M.C. label style IV.

Dimensions.

"Long. 20 1/2, diam. 10 mill.". Figured specimen H 20.1, D 10.9, W 6.5.

Type material.

NHMUK 1975501, lectotype (Cuming coll.).

Remarks.

Pfeiffer did not state on how many specimens his description was based; only a single specimen was found. Muratov and Gargominy (2011) re-described this taxon and studied the anatomy of a single dried individual. They concluded that this taxon "lacks the very characteristic, for Leiostracus , division of the spermathecal duct into an enlarged distal part and a slender proximal part that connect to the distal part sub-apically, which is essentially the only character that separates Leiostracus from Bostryx ". As Breure (1978: 239-240) has shown, these two genera also differ in their radula structure, which was not studied by Muratov and Gargominy. Moreover, molecular data lends support for clear differentiation of both genera, even in different families ( Breure and Romero 2012); more research may be needed to ascertain the position of Pfeiffer’s taxon. The generic classification of Breure (1979) is retained herein.

Current systematic position.

Simpulopsidae , Leiostracus demerarensis (Pfeiffer, 1861).