Updated systematic inventory of the land/ terrestrial gastropod molluscs occurring in the territory of Venezuela, North sector of South America facing the Southeastern Caribbean

Introduction: Since 2014, the “Projeto AM” (Brazil) has carried out taxonomic, bioecological and conservation research on non-marine molluscs present in the Caribbean territory of Venezuela


INTRODUCTION
Venezuela is a geopolitical territory located in the North sector of South America, ... an Federal Republic divided into 23 States and a Capital District comprising the city of Caracas and its metropolitan area (see Fig. 1). It is composed of a continental part (with 400.000 km2 of continental, coastline and maritime surface), a large number of small islands distributed in the Caribbean Basin, and a territory under claim with Guyana (Guayana Esequiba). With an area of 916.445 km², Venezuela is bordered to the North by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean (in direct contact with at least eleventh (11)  The objective of the present modest and unpretentios contribution is to substantially update the availably knowledge about the specific and diverse land/ terrestrial regional malacofauna existing in Venezuela, through of the updated review and consequent systematic organization of Brazilian Journal of Animal and Environmental Research, Curitiba, v.6, n.3, p. 2381-2398, jul./set., 2023 inventory relative to their species registered in the available literature, paving the way for possible future comprehensive researches in the ambit.

BACKGROUND
A registered total of fifty seven (57) available sources/ contributions, involving a chronological period of 164 years (between 1859 and 2023), today constitute the minimum and basic bibliographic bank (fundamental collection) for the successful undertaking of any study and/ or in-depth research on land/ terrestrial gastropod molluscs that occur in the South American territory of Venezuela and immediately adjacent geographic areas, as follows: In the following informal material available in the web < https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moluscos_no_marinos_de_Venezuela >, two (2) historical regional contributions dating back remount to the 19th century are simultaneously referred as "pioneering efforts" regarding the study and inventory of non-marine malacofauna (terrestrial/ arboreal and freshwater) existing in the Venezuelan geographic territory, works of the german naturalists von Martens (1873)in crossing/ passing by the countryand Ernst (1876)resident researcher, also providing a valuable referential compilation including (among others) the following specific "twenty-eight (28) bibliographical contributions" of immediate interest to the fundamental knowledge of regional land/ terrestrial and arboreal molluscs: ... Baker 1923Baker , 1924Baker , 1925Baker , 1926Baker , 1930Richards & Hummelinck 1940;Arias 1952Arias , 1953Thompson 1957;Arias 1959 Arias 1955;Hass 1955;Tello 1975;Thomé 1975;Breure 1979;Tillier 1981;Thomé 1993Thomé , 1994; Additionally, it is also worth highlighting the "peripheral" information contained in the next three (3)  The interested researcher or consultant will, eventually, be able to find a few other sources of interest included in the "bibliographical references" contained in the aforementioned basal contributions.
Finally, some works comparatives to the present contribution, concerning the specific inventory of regional land molluscs, were previously carried out in the country of Colombia (Ardila 2008) and the Caribbean insular territory of the Hispaniola Island (Espinosa & Robinson 2021).

RESULTS
The following is an updated taxonomic list (inventory) of the one hundred and fortyseven (147) specific forms of land/ terrestrial gastropod molluscs that have been verified/ registered so far in the Venezuelan territory, with each of the species and subspecies referred to is accompanied by its corresponding synonymy (when relevantly any), established through of the global platform "MolluscaBase" < https://molluscabase.org/index.php >.
The functional organization (structuring/ arrangement) of the presented listing follows, mainly, the proposal by Simone (2006