Land and freshwater molluscs of Gran Canaria (Spain)

Ward Langeraert; Dimitri Brosens

doi:10.15468/ny1f9n

Land and freshwater molluscs of Gran Canaria (Spain)

Citation

Langeraert W, Brosens D (2020). Land and freshwater molluscs of Gran Canaria (Spain). Version 1.13. Ghent University. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/ny1f9n accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-12.

Description

The Canary Islands (Spain) are an archipelago of the coast of northwest Africa. Gran Canaria is the third-largest island and located in the centre (Carracedo & Troll, 2016). The island contains a number endemic land snail species (e.g. Brito & Fraga, 2010). Freshwater molluscs are of smaller significance, but are also present. The research of land and freshwater molluscs of the Canaries mainly goes back to the 19th century with the famous works of Webb & Berthelot (1833), Shuttleworth (1852a, 1852b), Mousson (1872), Wollaston (1878), Mabille (1884), Odhner (1931), and others. Recent checklists are available (Groh, 1985; Bank et al., 2002; Brito & Fraga, 2010; Helixebas, 2019) and some more recent papers are cited further in this article. Nevertheless, taxonomic research is still largely based on these old works and many species were never found again since their description or the ecology or proper range is not known. This, together with the threats of global warming (Luque et al., 2013) and the increase of demographic and touristic pressure (Ibáñez et al., 1997) could (and probably already has) detrimental consequences for the survival of these species (see also the assessments on https://www.iucnredlist.org/). Therefore, there is an urgent need for information on ecology, distribution and taxonomy. “Land and freshwater molluscs of Gran Canaria (Spain)” is an occurrence dataset containing 389 observations of 62 different taxa of land and freshwater molluscs encountered on Gran Canaria, an island central in the Canarian archipelago (Spain). Various sites were inspected in a period between 1988 to 2020. The aim is to contribute to the knowledge on the ecology and distribution of these species on the island such that it may aid conservation and research of these organisms in the future. The dataset is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each observation a stable occurrenceID, scientific name, date, and location of the observation, as well as info on lifeStage and organismQuantity, and supplementary remarks on the determination and the observation itself. We have released this dataset to the public domain under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/).

Sampling Description

Study Extent

Locations were not predefined, but some regions were specifically visited because of known species richness or endemics occurrence. At site, observations were incidental, but microhabitats or elements that were thought to be favourable for snails or were given more attention (e.g. dead wood, north facing slopes etc.).

Sampling

Sampling was done ad random along random routes. Collection of specimens was mainly done by hand on sight. In some cases, a soil sample was taken that was later examined at home.

Quality Control

Determination was mainly done on two meetings concerning the land and freshwater molluscs of Gran Canaria organized by the Dutch Malacological Society (Nederlandse Malacologische vereniging, NMV) in coordinated by Theo Ripken. These meetings took place on 21 April 2018 and 23 February 2019 in resp. Leiden and Den Haag (Netherlands). Reference material and expert knowledge provided many determinations.

Method steps

Determinations were further based on the following articles: Alonso et al. (1995), Alonso and Ibáñez (2015b) and Yanes et al. (2011) for the genus Napaeus, Alonso and Ibáñez (2015a) and Valido et al. (1990) for Insulivitrina, Ibáñez et al. (2003) for the genus Obelus, Gittenberger and Ripken (1987) for the genus Theba, and Hutterer and Groh (1991) for the genus Truncatellina (see also Langeraert 2019). Also Mousson (1873) (first published in 1872, see Bank et al. 2002), Wollaston (1878), Mabille (1884), Odhner (1931), Shuttleworth (1975), Groh et al. (1992), Neubert and Gosteli (2003), Serna and Gómez (2008), and Neiber (2015) were consulted. Additional information was found in Groh (1985), Bank et al. (2002), Brito and Fraga (2010), Helixebas (2019) and as well on https://www.malacowiki.org/ and https://www.iucnredlist.org/. Finally, for species with a wider (European) distribution, the following works were consulted: Cameron (2008), Welter-Schultes (2012), Horsák et al. (2013), Glöer (2015), Jansen (2015), and Cadevall and Orozco (2016).

Taxonomic Coverages

Land and freshwater molluscs do not comprise a monophyletic taxonomic group, but are all mollusc species that live in respectively land and freshwater habitats. On land, only gastropods occur (class Gastropoda, snails and slugs) and in freshwater, both gastropods as bivalves (class Bivalvia) occur. No observations of bivalves are present in the dataset. Taxonomy is according to MolluscaBase eds. (2020) except for the taxon Pomatias adjunctus (Mousson, 1872). This species is known under the name Pomatias canariensis (d'Orbigny, 1840) in that database, but this name is a synonym of Pomatias laevigatus (Webb & Berthelot, 1833) which is a species other than P. adjunctus (see further; Theo Ripken personal comment; Yanes et al. 2004).

Ancylus striatus
Caracollina lenticula
Cernuella virgata
Cochlicella acuta
Cochlicella barbara
Cornu aspersum
Ferussacia folliculum
Gibbulinella aff. dealbata
Gibbulinella aff. dewinteri
Gyraulus parvus
Hawaiia minuscula
Hemicycla berkeleii
Hemicycla cf. gaudryi
Hemicycla ethelema
Hemicycla glasiana
Hemicycla guamartemes
Hemicycla psathyra cf. temperata
Hemicycla psathyra psathyra
Hemicycla psathyra temperata
Hemicycla saponacea
Hemicycla saulcyi carta
Hemicycla spec.
Insulivitrina nogalesi
Insulivitrina parryi
Lauria cylindracea
Monilearia arguineguinensis
Monilearia cf. praeposita
Monilearia montigena
Monilearia spec.
Monilearia pulverulenta
Monilearia tumulorum
Napaeus cf. venegueraensis
Napaeus exilis
Napaeus interpunctatus
Napaeus isletae
Napaeus josei
Napaeus moquinianus
Napaeus obesatus
Napaeus myosotis
Napaeus validoi
Napaeus venegueraensis
Obelus despreauxii
Obelus pumilio
Otala lactea
Oxychilus draparnaudi
Paralaoma servilis
Physella acuta
Monilearia phalerata
Pomatias adjunctus
Pomatias aff. laevigatus
Pseudosuccinea columella
Radix auricularia
Rumina decollata
Theba arinagae
Theba geminata
Theba grasseti
Theba pisana
Truncatellina atomus
Vallonia costata
Vallonia pulchella
Xerotricha aff. orbignii
Xerotricha conspurcata

Geographic Coverages

Gran Canaria (Spain)

Bibliographic Citations

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Contacts

Ward Langeraert
originator
position: Student
UGent
BE
email: langeraert.ward@gmail.com
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5900-8109

Dimitri Brosens
originator
INBO/ Belgian Biodiversity Platform
BE
email: dimitri.brosens@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0846-9116

Ward Langeraert
metadata author
position: Student
UGent
BE
email: langeraert.ward@gmail.com
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5900-8109

Ward Langeraert
user
position: Student
UGent
BE
email: langeraert.ward@gmail.com
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5900-8109

Ward Langeraert
administrative point of contact
position: Student
UGent
BE
email: langeraert.ward@gmail.com
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5900-8109