Abstract
Terrestrial mollusca are sparsely studied in Chile and, for the first time, a formal record of the diversity of land snails in northern Chile is reported. Coastal and desertic areas in the Region of Atacama, in the border of the Atacama desert and the Pacific Ocean, were surveyed with the aim to describe the presence and distribution of this poorly known fauna. Of the fourteen species recorded, the geographic distribution records for nine species are extended, and some taxa are recorded for the first time since their original descriptions. All, except one, of the fourteen terrestrial molluscan species occurring in the area are endemic to Chile; they are all terrestrial species, most of them have a restricted geographic distribution, and none of them is currently protected by law. The results reveal that the region of Atacama has one of the most diverse terrestrial snail biodiversity in Chile, ranking only after the Juan Fernandez Archipelago. Distribution records of all the studied species and a taxonomic key are also provided.
Highlights
Terrestrial molluscs are one of the least studied invertebrate groups in Chile, the first work compiling the records of land molluscan species is still extant (Stuardo and Vega 1985)
The terrestrial molluscs found in the Region of Atacama encompasses five families: Bothriembryontidae, a Gondwanan family which in Chile is solely represented by the genus Plectostylus; Charopidae, a widely extended family of tiny snails; Ellobiidae, a family which includes conspicuous terrestrial species living in litoral areas, in mangroves and under rocks in salty conditions; Strophocheilidae, with conspicuously large snails and Bulimulidae, with 29 species in Chile, all in genus Bostryx
Most of the species here considered occur in patchy distributions along the coastal desert of northern Chile, most of them with sparse records and very few have been found alive
Summary
Terrestrial molluscs are one of the least studied invertebrate groups in Chile, the first work compiling the records of land molluscan species is still extant (Stuardo and Vega 1985). Of them micromolluscs (Vargas-Almonacid 2000, Vargas and Stuardo 2007, Miquel and Barker 2009, Miquel and Cádiz-Lorca 2009, Miquel and Araya 2013). This work presents an overview, with distributions and illustrations, of all the land molluscan species found in the Region of Atacama, northern Chile. The distribution range and a taxonomic key to all the studied taxa is provided.
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