South American and Trinidadian terrestrial Gastropoda in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Tuhinga 32: 64-80

ABSTRACT: Despite its natural focus on the New Zealand region, the malacological collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (NMNZ), also includes a variety of specimens from elsewhere in the world, including a fair share of South American specimens. Examination of this material reveals valuable distributional data for several species, as well as previously unreported type material. This article examines and reidentifies all South American (and Trinidadian) gastropods from the NMNZ collection, excluding those from Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, which were analysed in a separate publication. All the information gathered is compiled and presented here as an annotated species checklist, including photographs of the most important specimens. In total, 91 species are reported. Paralectotypes of Neniops smithiae (Pilsbry, 1902) (from the private collection of zoologist Henry Suter (1841–1918)) were found in the NMNZ collection and are illustrated here.

KEYWORDS: Caenogastropoda, South America, snails, natural history collections, Neritimorpha, Stylommatophora, Trinidad and Tobago, type material.