Montenegrina helvola helvola ( Kuester , 1860)

Feher, Zoltan & Szekeres, Miklos, 2016, Taxonomic revision of the rock-dwelling door snail genus Montenegrina Boettger, 1877 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Clausiliidae), ZooKeys 599, pp. 1-137 : 31-33

Taxon classification Animalia Stylommatophora Clausiliidae

Montenegrina helvola helvola ( Kuester, 1860) Fig. 15I

Clausilia helvola Küster, 1860 - Küster 1844-1862: 176, plate 19, figs 15-18. - Schmidt 1868: 70-71.

Clausilia (Heteroptycha) helvola - Westerlund 1884: 40.

Delima (Alpidelima) helvola - Wagner 1924: 120.

Delima (Heteroptycha) helvola - Zilch in Wenz 1960: 429-430, fig. 1527.

Montenegrina helvola helvola - Zilch 1981: 128. - Nordsieck 2009: 73.

Diagnosis.

Shell small to medium. Lower whorls smooth, upper ones indistinctly wrinkled-costate. Neck wrinkled-costate. Peristome rounded to pear-shaped. In front view lamella inferior very high, barely emerged. Lunella dorsolateral. Basalis absent or residual and fused to the lunella. Subclaustralis weak and short, sulcalis residual. Anterior plica superior short, occasionally absent. Clausilium plate barely visible through the aperture.

Dimensions

(in mm). Hs: 12.5-19 (neotype: 18.5), Ws: 3.5-4.6 (neotype: 4.5) (SMF 94110a, HNHM 86051).

Type locality.

Albania, Krujë, Skanderbeg Fortress (due to the present neotype designation). In the original description the locality was given as “Dalmatien”. According to Wagner (1924), the original material was collected in Slano (southern Dalmatia) from marine flotsam.

Type material.

Albania, Mali i Krujës, inside the Skanderbeg Castle, ex K. L. Pfeiffer, ex Fuchs, 1941, neotype (SMF 94110a) (Zilch in Wenz 1960: fig. 1527.).

Other material.

Same as that of the neotype (NHMW-E, NHMW-E 33201, NHMW-E 32547, NHMW-K 50602, NHMW-K 48291 NHMW-K 54388); Krujë, castle, 600 m, 41.5107°N, 19.7947°E, leg. ZE, ZF, KK, 10.iv.2001 (HNHM 86054); Mali i Krujës, S slope at 1200 m, "zum Derwischgrab", leg. Fuchs (NHMW-E 16727/6); same locality at 1000 m, leg. Fuchs (NHMW-E 16501/3); Mali i Krujës, above Krujë, ca. 1000 m, 41.5222°N, 19.8055°E, leg. ZF, Kónya, 14.ix.1994 (HNHM 86051); same locality, leg. ZE, ZF, KK, 10.iv.2001 (HNHM 86052); Krujë, road to the Qafa e Shtamës, 41.5220°N, 19.7939°E, leg. AR, NR, PR, ix.2013 (NHMW 10.430/MN/0076); Mali i Krujës above Noi, along the Burrel to Krujë road, 700 m, 41.5229°N, 19.8164°E, leg. ZE, ZF, JK, DM, 26.x.2002 (HNHM 91606).

Distribution.

Mt. Krujë in central Albania. Known from the fortress of Krujë and some other sites on the Mt. Krujë, above and east of the town (Fig. 18).

Remarks.

The first volume of the Systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet ( Küster 1844-1862) was published in parts. Plate 19, with a figure of Montenegrina helvola but without description, was printed in 1853. The description (at p. 176), however, was published only in 1860 ( Welter-Schultes 1999).

Without specific type locality it was not possible to ascertain where Küster’s material originated from. Zilch (1960) depicted a specimen from Krujë, which was subsequently used as reference for the taxon without any nomenclatural relevance. The original type material could not be found in the public collections that currently hold remnants of Küster’s collection. Therefore, we can reasonably assume that it has been lost. In order to clarify and fix the taxonomic status and the type locality of helvola it is necessary to designate a neotype, in accordance with ICZN Art. 75.3. To preserve nomenclatural stability, we think it is justified to designate as neotype the specimen that has been used as reference for the taxon since Zilch (1960).

Wagner (1924) mentioned helvola as a species of Alpidelima . But in the same paper he listed it under Albanodelima , suggesting Alpidelima could have been merely a typographic error.