Plectostylus variegatus (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 variegatus (Pfeiffer, 1842) Figs 3.19-3.21, Table 2

Succinea variegata Pfeiffer, 1842: 56; Pfeiffer 1843: 187. Bulimus elegans : Hupé in Gay 1854: 102, pl. 3, fig. 1. Bulimulus (Plectostylus) variegatus : Pilsbry 1897: 5, pl. 6, figs 86-88. Plectostylus variegatus : Breure 1978: 202, pl. 9, figs 17-18; Breure 1979: 202; Stuardo and Vega 1985: 136; Valdovinos and Stuardo 1988: 137, figs 86-88, pl. 2, figs 19-21; Neubert and Janssen 2004: 233, pl. 13, fig. 155. Plectostylus broderipii : Breure and Ablett 2012: 43, figs 5 C–D, 5iii. (syn. n.)

Material examined.

Hills near Vallenar (28°34'S, 70°45'W), RCG (unnumbered), 5 specimens.

Diagnosis.

This relatively large species (up to 52 mm) has a thin but stout shell, with an acute, somewhat short spire and five slightly convex whorls sculptured by thin growth lines and fine spiral threads. The aperture is large, oval and slightly angulated in the columellar lip, which is completely white in its anterior part.

Distribution and remarks.

Valdovinos and Stuardo (1988) cited this species from Paposo (25°05'S, 70°25'W) to Lomas de Huasco (28°20'S, 71°15'W). According to Breure and Ablett (2012) this species is a subjective synonym of Plectostylus broderipii . The specimens here examined seem slightly different; the shells are more elongated, with a larger aperture and a more acute spire. Some specimens have rimate shells, with a pseudo-umbilicus formed by the folding of the columellar lip. These specimens have a thin, opaque, persistent and delicate brownish periostracum.