CAMAENID LAND SNAILS FROM WESTERN AND CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 9 years ago

Introduction: This is the fourth report on the semi-arid zone dominant land snails of Western and central Australia, which belong to the Camaenidae, sensu lato. It reviews 29 species level taxa in five genera. Twenty-two species and three genera are new. Most belong to Westraltrachia Iredale, 1933, a genus restricted to the south fringes of the Kimberley in limestone hills between Hawkstone Creek, a western tributary of the Meda River, and the Lawford Ranges east of Fitzroy Crossing. Six of the 21 taxa were previously known and 15 are new. Several related genera from the East Kimberley and adjacent portions of the Northern Territory contain eight species. New taxa are Mouldingia (one species in the Napier Range, one near Lake Argyle); Ordtrachia (four species between Lake Argyle and Nicholson); and Prototrachia (one species from east of Timber Creek Police Station, Northern Territory). Exiligada negriensis (Iredale, 1933), lives on the southern edges of Lake Argyle and ranges south about to the level of Nicholson.