An annotated checklist of the land snail family Orthalicidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Orthalicoidea) in Ecuador, with notes on the distribution of the mainland species

Abstract

The family Orthalicidae is wide-spread in the Neotropics and a major member of the land snail fauna of most South American countries. This checklist presents the species known to exist in Ecuador. It is based on data from relevant literature and museums world wide. There are 168 species in total, 63 of which occur on the Galápagos; 9 species are listed for the first time from this country. New synonymies are: Bulimus abscissus Pfeiffer, 1855 = Drymaeus (D.) fallax Pfe-iffer, 1853; Bulimus caliginosus Reeve, 1849 = Bulimus irregularis Pfeiffer, 1848 = Naesiotus quitensis (Pfeiffer, 1848). In the geographical analysis only the mainland species have been taken into account. The species were sampled at 128 mainland localities, 46 of which have been sampled after 1950, indicating that some parts of the country are undersampled. The potential distribution has been analysed at (sub-)generic level, using Maxent and GIS software. Finally four directions for future research are suggested: strengthening the locality database, improved sampling for better modelling, analysis of models on a greater spatial scale and phylogeographic analyses.