Ampullaria aperta

Cowie, Robert H., 2015, The recent apple snails of Africa and Asia (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Ampullariidae: Afropomus, Forbesopomus, Lanistes, Pila, Saulea): a nomenclatural and type catalogue. The apple snails of the Americas: addenda and corrigenda, Zootaxa 3940 (1), pp. 1-92 : 53

aperta

Ampullaria aperta Philippi, 1849b: 18 [1851: 14, pl. 3, fig. 5]. Type material —possible syntypes: MNHNCL 15896 (1 spm., old number 61.037), MNHNCL 15935 (1 spm., old number 61.037). Type locality —[no locality given]. Distribution — Venezuela ( Paetel 1873: 64, 1887: 476; Gaudion 1880: 24) or Burma / Myanmar ( Nevill 1885: 4; Prashad 1925: 88; Subba Rao 1989: 61).

Remarks. Nevill (1877: 6; 1885: 4) seems to have been the first to identify specimens from Burma / Myanmar as aperta Philippi , considering his specimens to be the same as those illustrated as saxea Reeve and an un-named variety of it by Hanley & Theobald (1874: pl. 115, figs. 3, 4). However, he did not discuss the original description of Philippi (1849b: 18) nor Philippi’s subsequent description and illustrations ( Philippi 1851: 14, pl. 3, fig. 5); the basis for Nevill’s identification of his specimens and the figures of Hanley & Theobald as aperta Philippi is therefore not clear. Nonetheless, Nevill’s identification was accepted with no further question by G.B. Sowerby III (1910: 57) and Prashad (1925: 88), the latter placing aperta Philippi in Turbinicola . Prashad was in turn followed by Subba Rao (1989: 61) and Berthold (1991: 22), the latter synonymizing Turbinicola with Pila . On this basis, Cowie & Thiengo (2003: 80) treated aperta Philippi as a non-American species. All these interpretations rely on the original identification by Nevill. However, two possible syntypes in MNHNCL, of which Cowie & Thiengo (2003: 80) were not aware, are labelled as from Venezuela and have non-calcified opercula; and Paetel (1873: 64, 1887: 476) and Gaudion (1880: 24) listed the species as from Venezuela. It is therefore possible that aperta Philippi is in fact a New World species.