A Tornatellinid Land Mollusk from the Solomon Islands 
R. K. Dell 1 
The family Tornatellinidae is widely dis- 
tributed in the Pacific. In the Western and 
Southwestern Pacific it has been recorded 
from the East Indies, New Guinea, New 
Caledonia, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Is- 
land, Australia, the Kermadec Islands, and 
New Zealand. No records appear to exist for 
the family in the Solomon Islands. Mr. R. R. 
Forster collected some land snails on Savo 
Island in 1944, and among these was a tube 
of tornatellid snails. They prove to belong to 
the genus Lamellidea and are here described 
as new. The small land Mollusca of the Solo- 
mon Islands have been only superficially col- 
lected and this and other forms of the Tor- 
natellinidae will probably prove to be widely 
distributed in the group. 
Lamellidea Pilsbry, 1910 
1910 Lamellidea Pilsbry, Nautilus 23: 123. 
Genotype: "Pupa” peponum Gould. 
Lamellidea solomonensis n. sp. 
Fig. 1 
Shell imperforate, oblong-conic, reddish 
brown, faintly translucent. Surface rather 
shining, marked with irregular growth striae. 
Spire convex in outline, apex obtuse. Suture 
rather appressed; whorls somewhat con- 
1 Dominion Museum, Wellington, New Zealand. 
Manuscript received November 9, 1954. 
stricted below the suture. Whorls five and a 
half to six, marked with rather irregular 
growth lines; last whorl comparatively large, 
about two thirds the total length of the shell. 
Aperture comparatively small, ovate, slightly 
oblique. Adult shell with a single parietal 
lamella, its outer margin flaring outwards and 
to a varying extent, downwards. Palatal wall 
without teeth or lamellae in most adult shells, 
columella vertical, twisted to a varying degree, 
with an obsolete tooth in some specimens. 
Peristome thin, flattened in the middle. 
The armature of juvenile shells is more 
complex. The parietal lamella is more strongly 
developed and is folded on itself. The colum- 
ella bears a strong tooth and this is backed 
by a weaker tooth set higher on the columella 
and further back in the aperture in some 
specimens. The remains of the stronger col- 
umellar tooth persist into the adult stage in 
some specimens. There are also widely spaced 
vertical palatal barriers as in L. serrata (Pease) 
and L. subcylindrica (Quadras and Moellen- 
dorff). These barriers also may persist into 
the subadult stage. The degree of develop- 
ment of serrations on these palatal barriers 
also varies considerably. 
Savo Island, Solomon Islands, collected 
R. R. Forster, May, 1944. Holotype (M. F. 
2505) and paratypes (M. F. 2506) in Domin- 
ion Museum, Wellington, New Zealand. Para- 
types in Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu. 
