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New faunistic data on Trochoidea (Trochoidea) caroni (Deshayes, 1832) (Gastropoda Pulmonata Hygromiidae) 489

Many specimens (more than 20) of T. caroni to Sicilian populations of T. caroni in deposits at
from Sicily are kept in the malacological collection Cirkewwa dating to the Lower and Upper Quaternary
of the Zoological Museum of Naples. These speci- (Hunt, 1997; Kolouch, 2003). Their h/d ratio ranged
mens, reported with various names such as: Helix from 1.24 to more than 1.29 (Giusti et al., 1995).
caroni, H. (Turricula) turrita, H. (T.) caroni, Helix Recent specimens of T. caroni were reported
(T.) exacta, date to the second half of the nineteenth from the Maltese Islands in the nineteenth century:
century and were acquired under the direction of Gulia (1874) and Feilden (1879) reported speci-
Achille Costa; most come from localities in Palermo mens that Giusti et al. (1995) assume to have been
Province or from near the city (exact toponyms are stranded transported by the sea. A specimen from
not indicated); some were donated by the eminent Malta, found in the first half of the nineteenth cen-
Sicilian malacologist Tommaso De Maria Allery di tury, is kept in the Philipp P. Carpenter collection
Monterosato (Maio, pers. obs.). of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago
Bellini (1915) reports the species as Tropido- (Maio, pers. obs.). Originally labelled Iberus trochlea
cochlìs Caroni Deshayes “nei dintorni di Palermo, Pfr., it was later determined by K. H. Beckmann as
Nicosia [Enna] e Siracusa”. T. caroni. Four specimens (two recent without date
In October 1953, Sacchi (1955b, 1956a, 1956b) and two Quaternary) from Malta, determined as
reported it as Helicella (Trochoidea) caroni-elata Trochoidea cfr. caroni, are kept in the Paul Sammut
from Sicily, island of Mozia (Isola dello Stagnone, collection in Rabat, donated to Heritage Malta,
Marsala, Trapani) and Capo Gallo (Palermo), and the cultural agency of the Government of Malta
in November 1953 as Helicella (Trochoidea) caroni (Various authors, 2007).
on silicicolous substrates at Mistretta (Messina NORTH AFRICA. Monterosato (1893) reports Xe-
Province) and on Isola delle Femmine (Palermo), rophila caroni Desh. (=turrita Ph.) from “Tunisi
stating that the latter form differed from the former (auct. [Monterosato?])” and H. elata, Faure-Biguet
“per la conchiglia molto alta e turricolata”. Sacchi et var. dilatata, Ben. from “Bona (Kob.)”.
(1955b, 1956b) also reports finding fossil speci- Bellini (1915) reports the species as Tropidoco-
mens of H. elata on Levanzo, Favignana and Ma- chlìs Caroni Deshayes from Tunis.
rettimo (Egadi Islands, Trapani) in pink sandstone. Four specimens from Annaba (= Bona, Algeria)
Some specimens from Porto Empedocle (Agri- attributed to T. caroni are kept in the Löbbecke Mu-
gento) are kept in the Löbbecke Museum in Düs- seum in Düsseldorf (Germany). They were collected
seldorf (Maio, pers. obs.). They were collected by by Carl Emil Lischke in 1868 and determined by
J. Boscheinen in 1974 and determined as Tro- him as Trochoidea elata (Férussac, 1819) (Figs. 20–
choidea elata (Férussac, 1819) by T. Meijer in 22). Their h/d ratio ranges from 0.97 to 1.12. Two
1975. Specimens of this species are reported from specimens of the species from Morocco, dating to
different sites in Trapani Province, Palermo and Agri- the first half of the twentieth century, are kept in the
gento between 1949 and 2010 (Tab. 2). Fiorentino Walter F. Webb collection of the Field Museum of
et al. (2004) reports it from the Egadi Islands. Natural History in Chicago (USA). Originally la-
Finally, the present authors found various colonies belled “Helicella sequentiana (Benoit)”, they were
of T. caroni at Cala Rossa (Terrasini, Palermo) determined as T. caroni by K. H. Beckmann.
(Figs. 17–19, 26, 28) in November 2004, at Gi- All these specimens were examined directly by
acalone (Palermo) in October 1995 and at S. Vito Lo one of the authors (Maio, pers. obs.) and despite the
Capo and Macari (Trapani Province) in June 2006. shell variations also present in North African popu-
The h/d ratio ranged from 1.14 to more than 1.20. lations of this group (see Bourguignat, 1864: vol. 1,
MALTA. The species was first documented as a T. 32, f. 4-22), seem to belong to T. caroni.
fossil from the Quaternary of Malta by Trechmann BALEARIC ISLANDS (SPAIN). Bullen (1910) re-
(1938, sub Xeroclivia sp.). Four specimens from ports fossils of “Trochula elata (Faure-Biguet)” in
Marfa Point in the North of the island, determined by two different Holocene deposits on the island of
Trechmann, are kept in the Department of Paleon- Majorca (Balearic Islands), namely at Porto Pi and
tology of the British Natural History Museum of Lon- Alcudia. Sacchi (1954, 1955a) mentions an old re-
don (Sacchi, 1955b). Giusti et al. (1995) found many port of Helicella (Trochoidea) elata from Majorca,
juvenile fossil specimens and shell fragments similar considered doubtful by Jaekel (1952).