INTRODUCTION TO THE M A L A C O F A U N A OF

THE C O M O R O ISLANDS
by

Thierry B A C K E L J A U (i)

1887). Herein, Morelet described Starmuhlner (1976) started an eco-

Introduction about 90 new species, many of them logical study of the freshwater fau¬
being probably endemic to the Como- n a of A n j o u a n , w h i l e he
ros. Morelet's basic material has recently published a survey of the
The Belgian Zoological expe- partly been incorporated in the freshwater molluscs of several is-
dition to the Comoro islands was famous Dautzenberg collection of lands, including the Comoros, in the
primarily intended to study verte- the "Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut Indian Ocean (Starmuhlner 1983).
brates, but due to the efforts of L. voor Natuurwetenschappen, Brus-
Janssens and Dr. R. Jocque, also an sel"; the remaining parts have been Besides the material kept in
important number of molluscs were deposited in the collections of the European museums, there is also a
sampled. The latter are now being "Museum National d'Histoire Natu- mollusc collection of about 700 spe-
studied by the author and it is the relle, Paris". cimens, assembled by G. Nivon, in
purpose of this paper to demonstrate the "Musee des Comores" at Moroni.
why this mollusc collection may be Finally, there exist several private
important. I also present a short After Morelet, several authors collections containing shells from
review of the malacofauna of the studied the malacofauna of the the Comoros.
Comoros for the general reader, and Comoros. Simroth (1913) for in-
therefore I illustrate and describe stance, investigated the peculiar So in view of the existing litera-
some of the more conspicuous forms, slugs of the family Veronicellidae ture on and collections of non-
without, of course, claiming comple- (Syn. Vaginulidae), whereas Haas marine molluscs of the Comoros,
teness. It is indeed not the place here (1929) revised the material collected one may wonder why quite large
to provide a detailed account on the by Voeltzkow during his Comoro mollusc collections were made du-
molluscs of this most interesting expedition in 1903. ring the Comoro expedition in 1983.
archipelago. This material, however, is impor-
In the following years, the exis- tant because it was for the greater
ting collections, and especially part collected on Moheli, an island
Brief history those of the "Museum National which has been somewhat neglected
d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris", grew by previous naturalists, who concen-
further due to the field work of natu- trated their efforts almost entirely
From a malacological viewpoint, ralists like Decary, Fleutiaux, Water- on the three larger islands of the
the Comoros are relatively well lot and Millot. As a consequence of archipelago.
known, at least if the land and this, it became more and more clear
freshwater molluscs are considered. that the pioneer work of Morelet In contrast to the terrestrial
Indeed, the first significant mollusc needed to be updated, a task which malacofauna, the littoral moluscs of
collections were already assembled has been undertaken by Fischer- the Comoros, including the species
in the 19th century by naturalists Piette and Vukadinovic (1974). inhabiting mangrove swamps, have
like Morelet, Bewsher, Marie and Their important revision, however, not yet been investigated adequa-
Humblot. Therefore, the names of shows that the present knowledge of tely. There are two major reasons for
these naturalists have been immor- the land and freshwater molluscs of this gap. First, the islands are of
talized by using them to denote the Comoros is still insufficient. volcanic origin. Hence their sea
several species typical of the Como- Indeed, there remain several taxo- shores consist mostly of cliffs and
ros such as C y c l o s u r u s m a r i e i , Oto- nomic problems to be solved (e.g. in rocks which are difficult to explore.
p o m a h u m b l o t i and R a c h i s bew- the families Veronicellidae, Strep- Consequently, the few field workers
s h e r i . These initial collections were taxidae and Neritidae) and there is who visited the archipelago, have
thoroughly studied by Morelet, who need for ecological investigations. avoided to investigate this biotope.
summarized the results of this inves- The latter may be important for On the other hand, the rare sandy
tigations in a series of papers in agriculture, public health, freshwa- beaches do not yield many species
"Journal de Conchyliologie" (More- ter management and protection of and the empty shells in tide marks
let 1877,1879,1881,1882,1883,1885, natural resources. With this in mind, are usually very worn.

(1) Laboratorium voor Algemene Dierkunde, Rijksuniversitair Centrum, Groenenborgerlaan, 171 2020 Antwerpen.

AFRICA-TERVUREN, XXX, 1-4 1984 75

 The second reason for the lack gascar, which amounts to almost With more than 40 species, the
of significant collections of marine 130 species (van Bruggen 1980, Streptaxidae are the best represen-
molluscs from the Comoros, is the 1982). A comparison with other ted family on the Comoros. Syste-
fact that these islands belong to the circum-African islands and a dis- matically this is a very difficult
Indo-Pacific fauna province. This cussion on this topic is given in an group. We illustrate some typical
implies a great affinity to the interesting paper by van Bruggen forms in Figure 2. A good introduc-
marine malacofauna of East-Africa, (1982). tion to this family is given by van
the Mascarenes, the Seychelles, the Bruggen (1967).
Red Sea, Southeast-Asia and West- There are relatively few slug
Australia. A l l these regions are tou- species on the Comoros. Two fami-
ristically more developed than the lies have been reported : the Vero- Freshwater molluscs
Comoros and therefore the latter nicellidae and the Urocyclidae.
have been neglected by the many They are represented by respecti-
enthousiastic shell collectors and vely seven and six species. The Thanks to the work of Fischer
malacologists who are interested in Veronicellidae are important since -Piette & Vukadinovic (1974) and of
the fauna of the Indo-Pacific. Indeed, they can cause considerable da- Starmuhlner (1976,1983), the fresh-
why should one visit the Comoros if mage to agriculture. They are easily water snails of the archipelago have
it is possible to collect more or less recognizable by the large mantle, been thoroughly studied (there occur
the same shells in more accessible covering the entire body. Unlike no freshwater bivalves on the Como-
areas where better living accomoda- other slugs these animals are not ros). Starmuhlner (1976) reported
tions are available ?! So here again, slimy. The Urocyclidae on the contra- seven species on Anjouan, five of
the new material may contribute to ry, are very slimy. A good introduc- which belong to the Neritidae. This
the knowledge of the malacofauna tion to slugs is a paper by van Brug- family is especially dominant in the
of the Comoro archipelago. gen (1964); a profound revision of lower watercourses, where some-
the Urocyclinae (a subfamily within what more brackish conditions may
In the following sections I will the Urocyclidae) is given by van prevail.
describe and illustrate some of the Goethem (1977). For the Veronicel-
more important, common or remar- lidae, Simroth's (1913) excellent In total, at least 13 freshwater
kable molluscs which can be found paper is still very valuable. species have been discovered living
on the Comoros. I stress here again on the Comoros (7 Neritidae). This
that these notes are only intended to number does not include the Assi-
provide preliminary information as The largest land snails on the mineidae and the Ellobiidae as I
to the malacofauna of the islands. Comoros are the Achatinidae (see consider them not to be true fresh-
illustration in the paper by Jocque water molluscs.
in this volume). Two species have In Table 1, the numbers of species
Land molluscs been reported ; A c h a t i n a f u l i c a and for different circum-African islands
A . p a n t e r a . The former species is are compared. It is clear that the
very widely distributed throughout fauna of the Comoros is a relatively
Fischer-Piette & Vukadinovic the Afrotropical region. These snails rich one. Madagascar for example,
(1974) reported about 150 true land can be very harmful to agriculture. which is approximately 250 times
mollusc species. It is very likely, Attempts have therefore been made larger than the Comoros, is inhabi-
however, that this number may still to control them by introducing two ted by only 25 species (Starmuhlner
increase as further research will be carnivorous snails, which prey upon 1969)! However, in contrast to Mada-
carried out. achatinids. Indeed, experiments on gascar, none of the species on the
Mauritius demonstrated that the Comoros is endemic; perhaps Cli-
A first striking element in the carnivorous snail E u g l a n d i n a r o s e a , t h o n s p i n i p e r d a (a neritid snail)
mollusc fauna of the islands is the from Bermuda, can be used as a suc- may be "sub-endemic" as it is else-
relatively high number of terrestrial cessful "weapon" against A c h a t i n a - where only known from the island of
operculates (snails which can close pests. Hence, this species, together Nossi-Be (Madagascar). Anyhow, it
their shell with a horny plate, called with the Hawaiian G o n a x i s k i b w e - is assumed that most of the species
operculum). Indeed, there are two ziensis, has been introduced in 1970 occuring on the Comoros have been
families, the Cyclophoridae and the on the isle of Grande Comore in introduced passively by man or
Pomatiasidae (Figure 1), with six order to control growth of the local water-birds.
genera comprising about 24 species. A c h a t i n a populations. This attempt
This number is only exceeded by the is as yet not very successful A c h a -
number of land operculates on Mada- t i n a is still found in large numbers.

76 AFRICA-TERVUREN, XXX, 1 - 4
 Figure 1 : Some land operculate species of the Comoros (families Cyclophoridae and
Pomatiasidae). (Photo J. Terryn)

Figure 2 : Two examples of Streptaxidae (genus Gulella). (Photo J. Terryn)

AFRICA-TERVUREN, XXX, 1 - 4
 number represents unquestionably lecting live tropical Conidae.
Mangroves and brackish a very limited part of the local Around the Comoros, two common
water areas fauna. More reliable are the figures species can be harmful : Conus t u l i -
given by Orr-Maes (1967). She repor- p a and C. s t r i a t u s .
ted 504 species from the Cocos Kee- Of course, the marine mollusc
These biotopes are poorly repre- ling islands and 543 species from fauna also contains several bivalve
sented on the Comoros. Neverthe- the Maldives. I expect comparable species. The most conspicuous are
less, there occur two families typical numbers for the Comoros. undoubtedly the giant Tridacnidae
of brackish conditions : TheAssimi- (Figure 4.). Some species in this
neidae with three species and the A first important group of mari-
ne snails is the family Neritidae. On family may attain lenghts of 1.0 to
Ellobiidae with at least 15 species 1.5 m and such specimens may weigh
(Figure 3). Both are difficult groups the rocky shores of the Comoros,
these gastropods outnumber all several hundred kg!
which need profound investigations.
other molluscs. The most abundant
species here, are N e r i t a p l i c a t a and Conclusion
N . a l b i c i l l a (see illustration in the
Marine molluscs paper by Jocque in this volume).
Both are very common throughout I estimate the new material to
the Indian Ocean (Orr-Maes 1967; contain between 200 and 250 species
This group comprizes many Tantanasiriwong, 1978). altogether. Hence the collection con-
species. For two reasons, however it stitutes an incomplete sample for
is difficult to give an approximation Shell collectors are usually the Comoros. Nevertheless, for the
of the real number of species. First more interested in "attractive" fami- reasons outlined above, it will contri-
there is the problem of delimiting lies such as the Cypraeidae, Co- bute to the knowledge of the malaco-
the geographical and bathymetrical nidae and Muricidae. The former fauna of the archipelago. Especially
area in which molluscs may live in two are relatively well represented the land molluscs are in this respect
order to consider them as being part among the new material. Common noteworthy. Although their study is
of the malacofauna of the Comoros. species around the Comoros : Co- still in its initial phase, it can
Secondly, there is the lack of recent n u s r a t t u s , C. m i l i a r i s , C. ebraeus, C. already be said that several Moheli-
papers on the marine molluscs of the c h a l d e u s , C. tessulatus and C. m i l e s samples contain most interesting
archipelago. Estimates can there- (Plate VII) Conidae are quite noto- records.
fore only be deduced from compari- rious because of their venom. The
sons with other islands in the In- sting of the harpoonlike radula of In conclusion I would like to
dian Ocean. De Brouwer (1980) for some species may sometimes even thank the staff of the Tervuren-
instance, reported 176 species from be fatal to humans! Therefore, one Museum for giving me the opportu-
Mauritius (Mascarenes), but this should always be careful when col- nity to study this collection.

Table 1 : Numbers of species of freshwater snails on some circum-African islands.

2
Islands A r e a (km ) Number of species

Comoros 2.170 13

Reunion 2.512 10

Mauritius 1.865 12

Mascarenes ( t o t a l for M a u r i t i u s ,

Reunion and R o d r i g u e z ) 4.486 18

Madagascar 595.790 25

Cape Verde Islands 3.851 6

Azores 2.304 6

78 AFRICA-TERVUREN, XXX, 1 - 4
Figure 3 : Some types of Ellobiidae. (Photo J. Terryn)
 REFERENCES

BROWN, D.S. 1980. Freshwater snails of Africa and their medical SIMROTH, H. 1913. Ueber die von Herrn Prof. Voeltzkow auf
importance. Taylor & Francis, London, 1 - 487 pp. Madagaskar und in Ostafrika erbeuten Vaginuliden, nebst
verwandtem Material von Ganz Afrika. In : Voeltzkow Reise
DE BRAUWER, H. 1980. Verslag en systematische lijstder vonds- in Ostafrika 1903 - 1905, Wissensch. Ergebnisse, Bd. Ill, Heft
ten Mauritius verzamelreis 1979. Gloria Maris^S : 135 - 160. 3 :129 - 215.

FISCHER-PIETTE, E. & D. VUKADINOVIC 1974. Les mollusques STARMUHLNER, F. 1969. Die Gastropoden der Madagassischen
terrestres desiles Comores. Mem. Mus. Warn. Hist. Nat. Paris Binnengewasser. Malacologia 8 : 1 - 434.
(N.S.) (A, Zool.) 84 : 1 - 76.
STARMUHLNER, F. 1976. Contribution to the knowledge of the
freshwaterfaunaof the isle of Anjouan (Comores). Cah. O.R.S.-
HAAS, F. 1929. Die Binnenmollusken der Voeltzkow'schen Reisen
T.O.M., ser. Hydrobiol. 10 : 255 - 265.
in Ostafrika und der ostafrikanischen Inseln. Zool. Jahrb.
(Syst.) 57 : 387 - 430.
STARMUHLNER, F. 1983. Results of the Hydrobiological mission
1974 of the zoological institute of the university of Vienna.
MORELET, A. 1877. Excursion conchyliologique dans Tile d'An- Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien. 84/B : 127 - 249.
jouan. (J. Conchyl. 25 : 325 - 347.
TANTANASIRIWONG, R. 1978. An illustrated checklist of marine
MORELET, A. 1879. Recolte de M. Bewsher a Tile d'Anjouan shelled gastropods from Phuked island, adjacent mainland
(Comores). J. Conchyl. 27 : 308 - 315. and offshore islands, western peninsular Thailand. Phuket
Mar. Biol. Center. Res. Bull. 21 : 1 - 22.
MORELET, A. 1881. Malacologie des Comores. I. Recolte de M.
Marie a I'Tle de Mayotte. J. Conchyl. 29 : 212 - 241. VAN BRUGGEN, A.C. 1964. South African slugs. African Wildlife
18 : 49 - 54.
MORELET, A. 1882, Malacologie des Comores. II. Recolte de M.
Marie a Hie de Mayotte. J, Conchyl. 30 : 185 - 200. VAN BRUGGEN, A.C. 1967. An introduction to the pulmonate
family Streptaxidae. J. Conch. 26 : 181 - 188.
MORELET, A. 1883. Malacologie des Comores. III. Recolte de M.
Marie a I'Tle de Mayotte. J. Conchyl. 31 : 189 - 216. VAN BRUGGEN, A.C. 1980. A preliminary checklist of terrestrial
molluscs of Madagascar. Achatina 8 : 147 - 164.
MORELET, A. 1885. Malacologie des Comores. IV. Recolte de M.
Humblot a la Grande Comore. J. Conchyl. 33 : 288 - 301. VAN BRUGGEN, A.C. 1982. Some reflections, mainly biogeogra-
phical, on the land operculates (Mollusca, Gastropoda Pro-
MORELET, A. 1887. Malacologie des Comores. V. Deuxieme sobranchia) of the afrotropical region. Neth. J. Zool. 32 : 284
voyage de M. Humblot. J. Conchyl. 35 : 281 - 291. -299.

ORR-MAES, V. 1967. The littoral marine mollusks of Cocos- VAN GOETHEM, J. 1977. Revision systematique des Urocyclinae
Keeling islands (Indian Ocean). Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. (Mollusca, Pulmonata, Urocyclidae). Ann. Mus. Roy. Afr.
119 : 93 - 217 Centr. (8°) Sci. Zool. 2 1 8 : 1 - 355.

AFRICA-TERVUREN, XXX, 1 - 4
 SAMENVATTING RESUME
Inleiding tot de malacofauna Introduction a la faune malacologique des
van de Comoren. Ties Comores.
Hoewel de Comoren op malacologisch vlak Bien que les Comores ont ete, du point de vue
reeds relatief goed onderzocht werden, betekent de malacologique, relativement bien etudies, la nou-
nieuwe collectie mollusken (land, zoetwater en velle collection de mollusques terrestres, dulcicoles
marien) een belangrijke aanwinst. Inderdaad, veel et marins estassez importante puisqu'elle comprend
materiaal is met name afkomstig van het eiland bon nombred'echanti lions provenant de I'Tle Moheli;
Moheli, dat door vroegere onderzoekers stiefmoe- une Tie jusqu'a present negligee par les malacolo-
derlijk werd behandeld. Bovendien, is hetvoorzover gistes. En outre, pour autant que Ton sache, ce fut la
we weten, de eerste keer dat uitgebreide verzame- premierefois qu'une collection d'une telle envergure
lingen mariene soorten van deze eilanden werden de mollusques marins fut etablie dans ces Ties.
aangelegd.
Les premieres importantes contributions concer-
De eerste belangrijke bijdragen over de land- en nant les mollusques terrestres et dulcicoles des
zoetwater- mollusken van de Comoren verschenen Comoressont de Morelet. Apres cefurent Simroth et
reeds in de vorige eeuw, toen Morelet een reeks Haas qui completerent les travaux de Morelet. Enfin,
artikelen hierover publiceerde. Zijn werk werd aan- des publications de Fischer-Piette, Vukadinovic et
gevuld met studies van o.a. Simroth en Haas. De Starmulhner parurent au cours de ces dernieres
laatste tien jaar werden nog belangrijke studies decennies. Concernant les mollusques marins des
gepubliceerd door Fischer-Piette, Vukadinovic en Comores aucune publication specifique nous est
Starmuhlner. Over de mariene mollusken van de connue.
Comoren zijn ons geen specifieke publicaties be-
kend. La faune malacologique des Comores com-
prend a peu pres 150 especes de mollusques terres-
De malacofauna van deze eilanden omvat op dit tres, 13 d'eau douce, 15 des eaux saumatres et pro-
ogenblik een 150 soorten landslakken, 13 soorten uit bablement plusieurs centaines d'especes marines.
zoetwater, 15 brakwatervormen en wellicht verschil- Comme exemple, cet article mentionne quelques
lende honderden mariene soorten. In hetartikel wor- families de mollusques communs et frappants des
den bij wijze van voorbeeld enkele opvallende en Comores.
algemene molluskenfamilies van de Comoren
aangehaald.

AFRIC A-TERVUREN, XXX, 1 - 4 81

 Plaat VII : Enkele Conus-schelpen van de Comoren : bovenaan van I. naar r. : C. rattus, C.
miles, C. tessulatus (dit ex. meet 40 mm); onderaan van I. naar r. : C. miliaris, C.
chaldeus, c. ebraeus. (Foto J. Terryn)
Planche VII : Quelques coquillages du genre Conus des Comores : en haut de g. a d. : C.
rattus, C. miles, C. tessulatus (cet ex. mesure 40 mm); en bas de g. a d. ; C.
miliaris, C. chaleus, C. ebraeus. (Photo j . Terryn)

Plaat VIII .Sternotomus (Ultiolemus) pupieri, door ons "goudschoentje" gedoopt, een ende-
mische kever van Moheli. (Foto M. Herremans)
Planche VIII : Sternotomus (Ultiolemus) pupieri, nomme "Soulier d'or" par nous, un Coleoptere
endemique de Moheli. (Photo M. Herremans)
82 AFRICA-TERVUREN -XXX - 1 - 4