Notes on a small collection of Littorinidae from Somalia

In two monographs Rosewater (1970, 1972) has given an excellent and up to date outline of the taxonomy and zoogeography of the family Littorinidae in the Indo-Pacific. Although extensive data concerning the distribution of the recognized taxa are given, no species are reported from the coast of Somalia, East Africa. Priolo (1969: 27), however, recently recorded Littorina pintado (Wood) from the neighbourhood of Mogadiscio. In the collection of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) I have found several samples of intertidal molluscs collected in the neighbourhood of Mogadiscio and Merca, Somalia. These samples are rather small and probably not fully representative for the fauna of that area. Yet they give important data concerning the distribution of the Littorinidae along the East coast of Africa; publication of these data therefore seems justified.