An illustrated catalogue of Rudolf Sturany’s type specimens in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Austria (NHMW): Red Sea gastropods

Anita Eschner,Paolo G Albano,Ronald Janssen,Piet A.J Bakker

doi:10.3897/zse.93.10039

Abstract

The Natural History Museum in Vienna hosts the samples of the late 19th century Austro-Hungarian “Pola” expeditions to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Rudolf Sturany studied these samples and described several new species. The type material of 35 species and forms of gastropods collected in the Red Sea is listed and illustrated. For each species, the available type material is listed, the original description and a translation into English is provided, and the current taxonomic status of the species is commented upon whenever possible. All species are illustrated in colour and with SEM imaging, with the exception of Stylifer thielei, whose only specimen was broken by Johannes Thiele in Berlin to study the soft parts. Finally, a table of the Pola deep and coastal stations where molluscs were collected is provided, with modern names.

Highlights

The Natural History Museum in Vienna hosts the samples of the late 19th century Austro-Hungarian “Pola” expeditions to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea
The type material of 35 species and forms of gastropods collected in the Red Sea is listed and illustrated
Rudolf Sturany was a malacologist who worked at the Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, NHMW) in Vienna between 1889 and 1922

Summary

Introduction

Rudolf Sturany was a malacologist who worked at the Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, NHMW) in Vienna between 1889 and 1922. The main work on Red Sea gastropods was published later in the Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, in 1903. It listed all the species found and illustrated all the new species, whether described in 1900 or 1903. Excursions for scientific research took him to Bosnia, Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Montenegro, Albania and Crete, where he found and described several species new to science, especially land and freshwater snails His good contacts with zoologists and malacologists of his time enabled Sturany to work on important scientific material (the "Taurus" expedition to the Sea of Marmara, Obrutschew’s expedition to the region of Pamir, the "Pola" expeditions). Georg von Frauenfeld, curator of the mollusc collection at the beginning of the 19th century, collected and described many new species (Eschner 2008)

Materials and methods

10. Paralectotype