Annotated catalogue of type specimens of Sphaeriidae (Bivalvia, Heterodonta, Veneroida) in the Mollusc collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, with a review of their current taxonomic status

Abstract

The Sphaeriidae, i.e. fingernail, pea or pill clams, comprise the smallest freshwater bivalves as adequately indicated by their naming. The systematics and phylogeny of the family is currently under revision. In connection with this ongoing work published elsewhere we here present an alphabetical catalogue comprising the types of 46 sphaeriid species, subspecies and varieties in the Malacological collection of the Natural History Museum Berlin, each listed by its original and most used current binomina. Several types not known to previous reviewers, e.g. syntypes of Cyclas capense Krauss, 1848 and of two Baikalian species, were found and included. Lectotypes of 9 species are designated herein (including 3 lectotypes selected earlier by Kuiper but not published). Modern views on taxonomy of all species and forms are briefly commented on. The status of the following taxa is changed: Sphaerium asiaticum (v. Martens 1864) is treated as a valid species. Pisidium obtusale var. magnificum Clessin in Westerlund, 1873 is synonymised with P. globulare auct. which is also treated as a distinct species. We suggest that S. naivashaense Preston, 1912 and S. mutandaensis Preston in Dautzenberg & Germain, 1914 are synonyms of S. capense (Krauss 1848) and confirm the synonymy of P. maculatum (Dybowski, 1902) with Lacustrina dilatata (Westerlund. 1897).