The Land Mollusca of Nissan Island, Solomon Islands 
R. K. Dell 1 
In the course of war service in the Solo- 
mon Islands the writer spent several months 
in 1944 on Nissan Island (Green, or Sir 
Charles Hardy, Island) in the northern Solo- 
mons. A large collection of Mollusca was 
made and the present work is based on the 
land Mollusca obtained. The geographical 
position of Nissan on the island arc between 
the Solomons and New Ireland makes the 
fauna of some interest in a consideration of 
the origin of the Solomon Island fauna. 
LIST OF THE SPECIES 
Leptopoma vitreum (Draparnaud, 1801). 
Pupina keraudreni Vignard, 1829- 
Sturanya modest a (Pfeiffer, 1853). 
Pseudocyclotus levis levis (Pfeiffer, 1853). 
Omphalotropis nebulosa Pease, 1872. 
Paludinella solomonensis n. sp. 
Syncera nitida guamensis Abbott, 1945. 
Orpiella ( 0 war ah a ) nissani n. sp. 
Eustomopsis eustoma (Pfeiffer, 1856). 
Papuina ( Pinnadena ) periwonensis n. sp. 
Gyropena nissani n. sp. 
Partula c.f. carteriensis (Q. and G., 1832). 
Opeas gracile (Hutton, 1834). 
Leptopoma vitreum (Draparnaud, 1801) 
Jutting (1948: 566) cites vitreum as of Dra- 
parnaud, 1801, ( Tabl . Moll. France). Iredale 
(1941) cites vitreum as of Lesson, 1830, and 
1 Dominion Museum, Wellington, New Zealand. 
Manuscript received November 9, 1954. 
considers that Lesson’s name was preoccupied 
by that of Draparnaud. He therefore uses 
nitidum of Sowerby for this series. Jutting 
has apparently considered that the two names 
apply to the same species and that there is 
therefore no need to alter the name. The 
writer has been unable to see Draparnaud’s 
work, therefore, Jutting’s usage will be 
followed. 
The group of forms around vitreum and 
nitidum are widely distributed in the Austro- 
Malayan area. Bartsch (1918) differentiated 
sixteen subspecies from the Philippines and 
Iredale (1941) indicates two subspecies from 
New Guinea. Populations from various local- 
ities in New Britain and the Solomons do 
show proportional differences but insufficient 
material is available to determine whether 
these apparent geographical differences are 
constant. 
This species occurred rather commonly on 
Nissan Island, living on the leaves of low 
shrubs. The shell dimensions of three spec- 
imens are: 
Height 
Diameter 
(mm.) 
(mm.) 
12.3 
12.1 
10.6 
10.0 
10.0 
10.4 
Pupina keraudreni Vignard, 1829 
A series from rotten logs near the shore 
at Tangalan Plantation, Nissan Island, agrees 
324 
