The Supposed Transcaucasian EndemiteAdzharia renschiHesse, 1933 is a South AmericanBulimulusSpecies (Gastropoda: Bulimulidae)

Abstract

In his seminal monograph about the anatomy and systematics of the Enidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata), Hesse (1933) described a new genus and species, Adzharia renschi, based on material he received from the Zoological Museum Berlin (ZMB) with the locality data “summit of the pass near Chula in Adzharia”. No collector or date is specified on the labels of the type material (ZMB 75980a and b). This genus is characterized by some characters not known from any other enids, such as an odontognath-like jaw. Despite efforts to recollect the supposed Transcaucasian endemite at its type locality in Georgia (Schileyko, 1998; M. Neiber & F. Walther, pers. comm.), no material of this enigmatic species has been found since the original description. Thus, doubts concerning the origin of the type material of Adzharia renschi rose. A re-examination of the lectotype (ZMB 75980a; designated by Kilias, 1971; Figs. 1, 2, height 20.8 mm, 7 whorls) and the paralectotype of Adzharia renschi (ZMB 75980b, height 19.4 mm, 6.5 whorls) revealed a distinct microsculpture on the protoconch (Fig. 2) unknown from other enids, but characteristic for Neotropical bulimulids. More precisely, the microsculpture of the protoconch of Adzharia renschi consists of small dents in a thimble-like pattern as in some Bulimulus species. The shell of Adzharia renschi (Fig. 1) resembles small forms of the variable Bulimulus bonariensis (Rafinesque, 1833) (Fig. 3). Some authors distinguish between two subspecies of B. bonariensis, namely the broad Bulimulus b. bonariensis (Rafinesque, 1833) from northeastern Argentina and Uruguay and the more slender Bulimulus bonariensis sporadicus (d’Orbigny, 1835) from Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and northwestern Argentina (Miquel, 1991). According to its dimensions, Adzharia renschi Hesse, 1933, is more similar to Bulimulus bonariensis sporadicus (d’Orbigny, 1835). MALACOLOGIA, 2015, 58(12): 363364