Erctella mazzullii ( De Cristofori & Jan, 1832 )

Colomba, Stella, Gregorini, Armando, Liberto, Fabio, Reitano, Agatino, Giglio, Salvatore & Sparacio, Ignazio, 2011, Monographic revision of the endemic Helix mazzullii De Cristofori & Jan, 1832 complex from Sicily and re-introduction of the genus Erctella Monterosato, 1894 (Pulmonata, Stylommatophora, Helicidae), Zootaxa 3134, pp. 1-42 : 18-22

Erctella mazzullii ( De Cristofori & Jan, 1832)

Figs. 9–14 , 21

Helix crispata Costa 1829: 106 , 111–112 (Sicily and near Naples); non Helix crispata Férussac 1821: 29 . — Costa 1836: 16 (Sicily); Scacchi 1836: 17.

Helicogena mazzulli Jan 1830: 3 ; nomen nudum.

Helix retirugis Menke 1830: 14 ; nomen nudum.

Helix mazzullii De Cristofori & Jan 1832: 1 (Sicily) ; nomen nudum.

Helix mazzullii De Cristofori & Jan 1832:1 . — Philippi 1836: 126, pl. 8 fig. 3 (“montibus circa Panormum”), 135 (fossil: “in limestone from Palermo”); Aradas & Maggiore 1841: 59 –60 (Palermo; plaia of Catania); Calcara 1842: 23 (Termini Imerese: San Calogero, on the hills); Philippi 1844: 103 (Palermo), 112 (fossil: “in limestone from Palermo”); Pfeiffer 1848: 242 (in Sicilia, in montibus circa Panornum); Gaudin 1860: 4 –6 (Monte Pellegrino, Monte Billiemi, Monte Gibilforno); Anca 1860a: 312 (fossil: Perciata cave on Monte Gallo); Anca 1860b: 688 (fossil: Perciata cave on Monte Gallo); Tryon 1888: 235 –236, pl. 59 figs. 54–57; De Gregorio 1890: 79; Monterosato 1891: 12 (Monte Pellegrino, both fossil and extant); Monterosato 1892: 13; Ancey 1893: 137; Tricomi 1929: 9 (fossil: Addaura cave; Perciata cave; Vitelle cave; Conza cave); Varga 1989: 77.

Helix mazzullii var. zonata De Cristofori & Jan 1832: 1 .

Helix (Pomatia) Mazzullii — Beck 1837: 44.

Helix aspersa var. mazzullii — Rossmässler 1837: 5, pl. 22 figs. 295–296.

Helix retirugis Rossmässler 1835: 56 (as a synonym of Helix mazzullii ; see remarks) — Calcara 1845a: 22 (Monte Pellegrino; Monte Cuccio; Roccazzo; Baida; Pietrazze; fossil: Billiemi; Monte Pellegrino); Calcara 1845b: 21 (fossil: Billiemi; Monte Pellegrino); Dupuy, 1848: 112, pl. 5, fig. 4.

Helix quinciacensis — Mauduyt 1839: 53, pl. 2, figs. 6–7.

Helix ritirugis — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for retirugis ] Cantraine 1840: 100 (surroundings of Palermo).

Helix costae Benoit 1857: 72 –76, pl. 1 fig. 10 (Barcellona; Cefalù; Monte Pellegrino; surroundings of Palermo; fossil: Monte Pellegrino and Billiemi, near Palermo).

Helix Mazzulii — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for mazzullii ] Bourguignat 1860: 160 –163, pl. 22, figs. 1–2 (Cefalù; Palermo; southern part of Italy, especially Calabria); Pilsbry 1895: 316, 318; Sequenza 1902: 450 (fossil: Santa Teresa di Riva, c.da Grotte, Messina province); Germain 1908: 154.

Helix mazzulii var. zonata Bourguignat 1860: 162 , pl. 22 fig. 3.

Helix Quincayensis — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for quinciacensis ] Bourguignat 1860: 163 –166, pl. 22 figs. 4–6 (Palermo; Cefalù).

Helix mazzulli — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for mazzullii ] Anca 1867: 5 (fossil: Perciata cave on Monte Gallo); Monterosato 1872: 10 (fossil: Monte Pellegrino; Ficarazzi); Benoit 1875: 133 (Barcellona; Cefalù; Monte Pellegrino); Monterosato 1877: 42 (fossil: Monte Pellegrino; Ficarazzi); Benoit 1882: 12 –13 (Palermo; Cefalù; Barcellona); De Gregorio 1886: 14 (fossil: Castellana, near Bellolampo; Monte Pellegrino); Westerlund 1889: 451 (Sicilien, Süditalien = Sicily, southern Italy); De Gregorio 1916b: 91 (Monte Pellegrino); De Gregorio 1917: 381, pl. 124 fig. 5 (grotte di Palermo); De Gregorio 1927: 13 (fossil: Palermo: Pietrazzi), 17 (fossil: Bisaquino), 20 (fossil: at the base of Monte Pellegrino); De Stefani 1941: 19 (fossil: caves nearby Palermo); Burgio & Cani 1988: 90 (fossil: Alcamo); Abate et al. 2006: 27 (fossil: Alcamo).

Helix Mazulli — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for mazzullii ] Falconer 1868: 550 (fossil: Maccagnone cave).

Helicogena mazzullii — Paulucci 1878: 8 (Sicily).

Helix mazzulli var. quincayensis — Westerlund 1889: 451.

Helix Costae (H. Mazzulli) — Platania 1890: 45 (Monte Pellegrino; Monte Cuccio); Salvo 1932: 45 (Monte Pellegrino; Monte Cuccio).

Helix (Erctella) mazzulli — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for mazzullii ] Monterosato 1894: 168 –169 (Monte Pellegrino; Capo Gallo).

Helix (Erctella) costae monstr. contraria and monstr. scalariformis Monterosato 1894: 169.

Helix (Erctella) costae var. ex col. unicolor, fasciata, albina Monterosato 1894: 169.

Helix (Erctella) costae var. ex forma: acuta, arietina, intorta Monterosato 1894: 169.

Helix Luparellensis De Gregorio 1895: 192 (fossil: Luparello cave, near Baida; Palermo) — De Gregorio 1899: 4 (fossil: Luparello cave); Burgio & Costanza 1999: 368 (fossil: Luparello cave).

Helix mazzulli var. lymneopsis De Gregorio 1895: 193 (near Palermo, maybe Monte Pellegrino).

Helix mazzulli var. normalis De Gregorio 1895: 193 (Monte Pellegrino; Guadagna, near Palermo).

Helix mazzulli var. supracristata De Gregorio 1895: 193 (near Palermo).

Helix mazzulli var. zonata — De Gregorio 1895: 193 (Castelvetrano; San Vito; Marsala; Capo Gallo; Pachino).

Helix (Helicogena) mazzullii — Kobelt 1903: 100, pl. 320, figs 5–13.

Helix (Erctella) Mazulli — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for mazzullii ] De Gregorio 1927: 5 (fossil: Monte Pellegrino).

Helix Mazzullii var. limneopsis — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for lymneopsis] De Gregorio 1927: 16 (Palermo: Addaura cave).

Helix Mazzullii F. Luparellensis — De Gregorio 1927: 19 (fossil: Palermo: Luparello cave).

Helix mazullii — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for mazzullii ] Kuehnelt 1932: 132 (Monte Pellegrino); Rensch 1932a: 792 (Monte Pellegrino); Rensch 1937: 568 (Monte Pellegrino).

Helix (Cryptomphalus) mazzullii — Zilch 1952: 136; Sacchi 1955a: 83 –87, pl. 3, fig. E (Monte Pellegrino; Cefalù; Monte Gallo; Monte Palmeto; Capo San Vito; Monte Cofano; Custonaci); Alzona 1971: 220 (northwestern Sicily, from Palermo to Trapani); Cesari 1978: 58 (Monte Pellegrino; Cefalù, La Rocca; Custonaci); Falconieri 1995: 131.

Cryptomphalus mazzullii — Sacchi 1955b: 635 -642 (Capo Gallo; Capo San Vito; Custonaci; Cefalù; Isola delle Femmine).

Helix (Cornu) mazzullii — Esu et al. 1986: 235 (fossil: Poggio Schinaldo); Giusti & Castagnolo 1982: 89.

Cantareus mazzullii — Manganelli et al. 1995: 33; Manganelli et al. 2000: 41 –42 (from Trapani to Cefalù); Vitturi et al. 2005: 351 –357 (Monte Pellegrino); Lo Brano & Sparacio 2006: 584 (Monte Cuccio; Monte Pellegrino; Capo Gallo).

Helix mazzulli mazzulli — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for mazzullii ] Cossignani & Cossignani 1995: 142 –143 (northwestern Sicily, Monte Pellegrino).

Cornu mazzullii — Bank 2009 (Sicily); Colomba et al. 2008: 90.

Erctella mazzullii — Liberto et al. 2010: 113.

Helix mazzuli — [Incorrect subsequent spelling for mazzullii ] Benoit (date?, see Benoit 1857–1862): pl. 11 fig. 9 (Monte Pellegrino).

Helix mazzuli var. zonata — Benoit (date?, see Benoit 1857–1862): pl. 11 fig. 10.

Shell ( Figs. 9–14 ). Globose-conical, light; height 25–36 mm (mean 31.5 mm); maximum diameter 24–33 mm (mean 27.5 mm); aperture height 17–26 mm (mean 20.7 mm); aperture maximum diameter 18–24 mm (mean 21.8 mm); uniformly yellowish or brownish, sometimes with 3–5 brown spiral bands; external surface with thin, uniform, axial wrinkles; aperture very large, round; peristome simple, sharp, little thickened and sometimes a little reflected. ( Rossmässler 1837; Pfeiffer 1848; Benoit 1857; Westerlund 1889; Cesari 1978; Falconieri 1995)

Radula. Similar to that of C. aspersum ( Pollonera 1887; Hesse 1919; Giusti et al. 1995) but differs in the less evident mesocone of the central tooth. ( Hesse 1919; Cockerell 1921; Cesari 1978).

Genitalia ( Fig. 21 ). Diverticulum of bursa copulatrix longer (nearly two-fold) than duct of bursa copulatrix; two digitiform glands each of which is divided into 20–35 slender and branched digit-like appendices; vagina internally with 5–6 longitudinal pleats; penial flagellum as long as penis and epiphallus together; proximal cavity of distal penis with some transversal pleats, a very small penial papilla and a small papilla on the internal wall ( Hesse 1919; Cesari 1978; Giusti & Castagnolo 1982).

Remarks. Menke (1830) introduced the name H. retirugis as a nomen nudum. Rossmässler’s citation of the name as a synonym of Helix mazzullii and its adoption as a valid name by Cantraine (1840) and subsequent authors make the name available and Rossmässler its nomenclatural author (ICZN 1999 Art. 11.6). The type material consists of the specimens “denoted by that name when it was adopted as the name of a taxon” (ICZN 1999 Art. 72.4.3). This was in 1840 by Cantraine (misspelled as ritirugis ) who cited the species as being found “dans les environs de Palerme” (in the surroundings of Palermo). Until the nominal species has been typified (either with material of Cantraine or by a neotype) it remains unclear whether the name retirugis denotes the globose genuine mazzullii or the conical form of Monte Pellegrino.

Bourguignat (1860), in line with Dupuy (1848), stressed that Helix quinciacensis Mauduyt 1839 was described on specimens of C. mazzullii introduced to Quinçay ( France). Nevertheless, he considered it a valid species (with the surroundings of Palermo and Cefalù being the place of origin) for which he unjustifiedly emended Mauduyt’s name to Quincayensis .

Zilch (1952), given that the entire De Cristofori & Jan malacological collection was destroyed ( Zilch 1952), designated the specimen depicted by Rossmässler (1837: pl. 22 fig. 295) as the neotype of Helix mazzullii .

The neotype summarizes the main morphological features shown by the specimens of the populations inhabiting the surroundings of Palermo. However, the populations from Monte Pellegrino appear with a more conical, at times turreted shell, showing more evident sutures and an emphasized shell sculpture. Such morphological differences might account for elevating this population to the subspecies level. In that case, bearing in mind the description by Mauduyt (1839) and illustrations by Bourguignat (1860: pl. 22 figs. 4, 6 sub quincayensis ), it should be reported under the name Erctella mazzullii quinciacensis ( Mauduyt 1839) .

De Gregorio described the fossil species Helix Luparellensis (Fig. 32) from the Luparello cave (Baida, Palermo) belonging to the H. mazzullii group ( De Gregorio 1895; 1899). Later on, he re-considered this taxon as C. mazzullii ( De Gregorio 1927) , contrary to Monterosato’s opinion who believed H. luparellensis to be a valid species (see Ryolo & Palazzi 2009).

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 11. Erctella mazzullii samples from various sites showing different morphotypes. Each shell shown in frontal (a) and dorsal (b) view. 9. Palermo, Monte Pellegrino, height (H): 30 mm, maximum diameter (D): 27 mm. 10. Palermo, Monte Pellegrino, H: 32 mm, D: 24 mm. 11. Palermo, Cinisi, Monte Pecoraro, H: 35 mm, D: 33 mm.

FIGURES 12 – 14. Erctella mazzullii samples from various sites showing different morphotypes. Each shell shown in frontal (a) and dorsal (b) view. 12. Palermo, Sferracavallo, la Montagnola, H: 29 mm, D: 28 mm. 13. Palermo, Cinisi, Monte Pecoraro, H: 36 mm, D: 34 mm. 14. Sine loco, Paleontological Museum of University of Catania (MPUC), Monterosato collection, Lot 1187, H: 31 mm, D: 30 mm, sinistral shell.

FIGURE 21. a. Erctella mazzullii from Monte Pellegrino, genitalia. b. Idem, internal structures shown. c. Erctella mazzullii from Monte Pecoraro, Genitalia with internal structure.