ABSTRACT. Critical review of stylommatophoran mol-
luscs of the fauna of Vietnam. The Check-list includes
477 species and subspecies (96 genera, 20 families). For
every species (subspecies) references to original de-
scription, synonymy, type locality (in original spelling)
including synonyms, shell dimensions (for slugs – body
length) and distributional data are given. In the end the
index of mentioned molluscan names and the list of
localities with geographic coordinates is placed.
Introduction
In XIX – beginning of XX centuries numerous
species of terrestrial molluscs have been described
from the territory of Vietnam. The most eminent
researchers of the fauna of Indochina are A. Bavay,
Ph. Dautzenberg, H. Fischer, P. Fischer, G. Gude, J.
Mabille, O. Möllendorff, A. Morelet, L. Morlet and
L. Pfeiffer.
The first attempt to summarize the data on
terrestrial malacofauna of Indo-China as a whole
(Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam) was made by
P. Fischer [1891]. After full bibliography he listed
197 species names of land pulmonates. 15 years
later H. Fischer and Ph. Dautzenberg [1904] pub-
lished a Catalogue of land and freshwater mollusks
of eastern Indo-China. This Catalogue includes 445
species and subspecies (or forms) of terrestrial
snails and slugs. It should be mentioned also that in
1973 P.H. Fischer issued a list of shelled mollusks
of Cambodia, where 63 species and subspecies of
land pulmonates were indicated.
Majority of species described at that time went
under generic names Pupa, Buliminus (or Buli-
mus), Clausilia, Helix, Nanina, or Streptaxis. Cur-
rently, the systematics of Pulmonata becomes much
more complex and number of genera is presently
much higher. At the same time a problem arose:
taxonomic position of many species is defined by
their anatomical characters, whereas anatomy of
majority of Vietnamese species is unknown; that is
why I attributed many species in the definite genera
just tentatively.
The names of localities in the original descrip-
tions are given in French, German or English, there-
fore the spellings of the same localities sometimes
are quite different; above all, many names of places
have been changed since the time of description.
So, in the text of the Check-list the spellings of the
type localities are indicated exactly as in the original
descriptions; in the rubric “Distribution” the names
of places are given in their current spellings (or
current names). In the end I placed the list of some
localities where for ancient (or used by the authors)
names, the current names are indicated, and for
some of them the geographical coordinates are
given. Similarly the dimensions are cited according
to the original description.
It should be also taken into consideration that in
XIX and beginning of XX century the demarcation
of boundaries between southern parts of China,
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia was vague, therefore
such indications as “Cochinchina”, “Annam” and,
sometimes, “Tonkin” could imply either (corre-
spondingly) south Vietnam, central Vietnam and
part of Laos, and north Vietnam, or adjacent territo-
ries of Cambodia, Laos or southern China. Besides,
some places indicated by the authors as, say, “Ton-
kin”, is actually on the territory of, say, Laos. Above
all, a number of populated places have the same or
similar names, and in such cases it is impossible to
establish, which of them the author meant. So,
mistakes in indications of countries or places, un-
fortunately, are inevitable. I would be grateful for
indications of my mistakes.
In the listed locations in “Distribution” section,
the data are taken from sources mentioned in the
synonymy; then, in a number of cases, after the
colon (:), I indicate the distribution localities from
material housed in the Naturhistorisches Museum
Wien (NHMW) or Zoological Museum of Moscow
State University (ZMMU).
I would like to hope, that this Check-list will
stimulate the further taxonomical investigation of
the malacofauna of Indo-China, in particular, Viet-
nam.
Acknowledgments
Many friends and colleagues helped me in many
ways during the preparation of the manuscript.
Particularly I would like to express my deep grati-
tude to Dr. Bella Striganova, Dr. Alexander Anich-
Check-list of land pulmonate molluscs of Vietnam
(Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)
A.A. SCHILEYKO
A.N. Severtzov Institute of Problems of Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky
Prospect 33, Moscow 119071, RUSSIA. E-mail: asch@gol.ru
Ruthenica, 2011, vol. 21, No. 1: 1-68.
Published April 2011
© Ruthenica, 2011
http: www.ruthenica.com