Tuhinga 30: 82–98 Copyright © Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (2019) Brazilian, Uruguayan and Argentinian terrestrial gastropods in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Rodrigo B. Salvador Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, PO Box 461, Wellington 6140, New Zealand (
[email protected]) ABSTRACT: The malacological collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (NMNZ), despite naturally focusing on New Zealand species, also includes a variety of specimens from South America. Examination of this material revealed new distributional data for several species. All Brazilian, Uruguayan and Argentinian terrestrial gastropods from the NMNZ collection were examined and reidentified (no material from Paraguay was found). The information gathered was compiled and is presented in this article, and may contain significant data for malacologists working with the region’s fauna. In summary, 99 species are reported, 13 of which represent new records and meaningful increments in geographical distribution, either extending their known range or filling distributional gaps. Moreover, the NMNZ collection houses the type material of six species from Brazil and Argentina described by the New Zealand malacologist Henry Suter (1841–1918) in 1900. KEYWORDS: Gastropoda, Neritimorpha, ‘Pulmonata’, range extension, snails, type specimens. Introduction finely preserved and usually present reasonable geographic provenance data. The malacological collection of the Museum of New A cursory examination of the South American specimens Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (NMNZ; Wellington, New led to the realisation that the lots of some species represented Zealand) naturally focuses on species from that country, but new records previously unknown in the literature.