Liotidae and allied molluscs from the Dampierian Zoogeographical Province
Abstract
This paper is based on two collections from Darwin, Northern Territory, which, as far as is known, are the only collections of small shells available from within the Dampierian Zoogeographical Province. The first collection was made by the author's son, John Laseron, from the beaches at Darwin during the war years, the second from a dredging in 17–20 fm of Pt. Charles, Darwin, by Mr. Mel Ward. As the field is so large it has been thought advisable to deal with these collections family by family rather than as a whole. Material from these collections has already been incorporated in papers dealing with both the Solanderian and Dampierian Provinces on the Cerithiopsidae, the Rissoinidae and Rissoidae, and the Ctiloceratidae (the last in co-authorship with Tom Iredale). The present paper, however, deals only with the Dampierian Province.
No species of Liotiidae has previously been recorded from within the Dampierian Province, but several species have been described from Torres Strait, where there is an overlap with the Solanderian fauna. The presence of some of these species at Darwin is not surprising, and shows them to be essentially Dampierian in range. One species from southern Queensland also occurs at Darwin, also a slightly divergent race of a Peronian species, the latter so far not recorded from any intermediate locality. With these exceptions all the species have been described as new. Generic revision has also been undertaken. All in all 28 forms are here reviewed and figured. Of these 7 have been previously described, 6 from Torres Strait and 1 from the southern Queensland coast. New species number 20 and in addition there is a new subspecies of a Peronian species. All have been divided into 17 genera of which 11 are proposed as new. None of these includes Liotia proper, which, however, is found on the Queensland coast, and will also probably be found in north Australia.
