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The continental malacofauna of Arabia and adjacent areas, VII. The family Achatinidae (Coeliaxinae, Subulininae) in the Socotran Archipelago (Gastropoda, Pulmonata)

  • Socotra biodiversity research and nature conservation
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Abstract

The endemic fauna of achatinoid terrestrial molluscs for the Socotran Archipelago (Yemen) is revised. The main group falls into two genera, viz. Riebeckia E. v. Martens, 1883 with five species and Balfouria Crosse, 1884 with seven species, two of which are here described as new to science, i.e. Balfouria nitida n. sp., and Balfouria minima n. sp. Another globally distributed species could be found, and the endemic Zootecus species of the outer island of Abd el-Kuri is illustrated. The highly specialised shell structure of Balfouria is discussed, which is used to camouflage the animals with a mixture of clay and mucus protecting the shell during the individual lifetime of a specimen.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to all colleagues, who in various ways contributed to the field work in Socotra, discussions of taxonomic problems, loaning of specimens, collecting of molluscs etc. We would like to thank (in alphabetical order): Diccon Alexander, London; Philippe Bouchet, Paris; Kay Van Damme, Ghent; Eva Feltkamp, Frankfurt; Sigrid Hof, Frankfurt; Mark Hughes, Edinburgh; Ronald Janssen, Frankfurt; Friedhelm Krupp, Frankfurt; Anthony Miller, Edinburgh; Peter Mordan, London; Miranda Morris, Edinburgh; Uwe Zajonz, Frankfurt. This work was partially supported by the project “Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity of Socotra Archipelago” executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS YEM/96/G32) in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Council (EPC, now EPA) of Yemen, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and by the Research Institute Senckenberg, Germany. The authors are grateful to the Natural History Museum Bern for the financial support of the visit of the authors to Socotra in 2013.

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  1. Natural History Museum of the Burgergemeinde Bern, Bernastrasse 15, 3005, Bern, Switzerland

    Eike Neubert & Estée Bochud

  2. Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Eike Neubert & Estée Bochud

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  1. Eike Neubert
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  2. Estée Bochud
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Correspondence to Eike Neubert.

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This paper belongs to a Topical Collection “Twenty years of biodiversity research and nature conservation in the Socotra Archipelago” edited by Fabio Attorre and Kay Van Damme, conceived at the 18th Friends of Socotra Conference, 26–29 September, 2019, Orto Botanico di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.

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Neubert, E., Bochud, E. The continental malacofauna of Arabia and adjacent areas, VII. The family Achatinidae (Coeliaxinae, Subulininae) in the Socotran Archipelago (Gastropoda, Pulmonata). Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 31, 655–676 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-020-00920-y

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