Miscellaneous notes on Southern African Gastropoda Euthyneura (Mollusca)

SUMMARY The following new distribution records of southern African terrestrial molluscs seem to be of particular interest: Pupilla fontana (Krss.), Rachis jejuna (M. & P.), Guppya rumrutiensis (Prest.), Xerocerastus burchelli (Gray) (all four new for Rhodesia), Euonyma damarica Jaeck. (new for Cape Province) and Streptostele herma Conn, (common at Lundi, Rhodesia). Xerocerastus schultzei (Bttg.) has to be expunged from the Rhodesian list; existing records are based on misidentifications. The following synonymies have been established: Achatina subcylindrica Preston, 1909, and A. s. deisenbecki Blume, 1952, nov. syn. of Archachatina (Tholachatina) transvaalensis (Smith, 1878) ; Helix (Nata) liparoxantha Melvill & Ponsonby, 1892, nov. syn. of Nata vernicosa (Krauss, 1848) ; Streptostele (Raffraya) meridionalis Van Bruggen, 1066, nov. syn. of S. (R.) herma Connolly, 1912. The genital anatomy of Achatina connollyi Prest, and Archachatina ustulata (Lam.) is here described and figured for the first time; also the radula and jaw of Pupilla fontana (Krss.). N. Transvaal populations of Fauxulus ponsonbyanus (Mor.) are characterized by the comparatively frequent absence of a short fold at the base of the columella. The clausiliid Macroptychia africana (M. & P.) is a montane palaeogenic element in the South African fauna as witnessed by its derivation from an ancient group mainly centred outside the Ethiopian Region and by its distribution along the Eastern Escarpment from the eastern Cape Province to the N. Transvaal. Continued research on the terrestrial molluscs of Africa south of the Zambezi has now led to the accumulation of a vast amount of data. While many of the results have formed the basis for a number of papers it was found that a number of stray notes could not be incorporated in these and forthcoming publications. For various reasons it has become necessary that