Pupilloid Land Snails from the South and Mid-west Coasts of Australia

Abstract

Pupilloid land snails found in the areas between Kangaroo Island, South Australia and Albany, Western Australia, and then from the Chichester Range and Port Hedland in the Pilbara and North West Cape south to near Morawa, Western Australia are reviewed. Gastrocopta margaretae (Cox, 1868) ( + bannertonensis Gabriel, 1930 and complexa lredale, 1939) ranges from the Lower Murray River basin of Victoria and South Australia west to near Merredin and Albany, Western Australia; G. wallabyensis (Smith, 1894) is known from coastal and island localities in Western Australia from Point Quobba, north of Carnarvon south through Shark Bay and the Houtman Abrolhos to Green Head, just south of Eneabba; G. pilbarana, new species, has been collected from the Chichester Range near Roy Hill Station, the North West Cape, and places in the Shark Bay area (Salutation and Dirk Hartog Islands, Useless Bay); G. deserti Pilsbry, 1917, a species widely distributed in the Red Centre and barely reaching the south fringes of the Kimberley, has been found near the North West Cape south to Point Quobba north of Carnarvon. Pupilla (Gibbulinopsis) australis (Adams & Angas, 1864) ( + lincolniensis Cox, 1867 and occidentalis lredale, 1939) ranges from at least as far east as Kangaroo Island, South Australia, then from at least Nundroo in South Australia west to Peak Charles inland and coastally at Bremer Bay and Albany along the south coast of Western Australia, with isolated records from Rottnest Island, two islands in the Houtman Abrolhos, Green Head, and Point Quobba, north of Carnarvon on the west coast. The sinistral Pupoides myoporinae (Tate, 1880) is known from scattered localities along the south coast from the Murray River in Victoria west to Hines Hill near Merredin in the WA wheat belt; its west coast analog, P. contrarius (E.A. Smith, 1894), has been collected between N of Pardoo in the Pilbara south to the Houtman Abrolhos. Of the dextral species, Pupoides adelaidae (Adams & Angas, 1864) ( + contexta lredale, 1939 and asserta lredale, 1939) ranges from Victoria through South Australia as far west as Jerdacuttup, Beaufort Inlet, and Peak Charles near the south coast, Hines Hill and Nangeenan in the central wheat belt, and Nugadong and Morawa NE of Perth. P. lepidulus (Adams & Angas, 1864) ranges from Cape Latouche-Treville south to the Houtman Abrolhos. Specimens possibly referable to the Red Centre P. beltianus (Tate, 1894) or the south coast P. adelaidae, have been collected at a few stations between Dale’s Gorge in the Hamersley Range, Pilbara and the Overlander Roadhouse near Shark Bay. No pupilloid snails have been recorded on the mainland between Nugadong and Morawa south to Cape Leeuwin on the west coast and then east to near Albany on the south coast of Western Australia. Hines Hill and Nangeenan near Merredin are the westernmost inland localities. Pupilloids are absent from the denser forests of south-western Australia.

The multiple thickenings of the shell lip in these species suggests considerable longevity, although, because of the variable rainfall patterns, it is doubtful that these represent annual depositions.