Small snails in a big place: a radiation in the semi-arid rangelands in northern Australia (Eupulmonata, Camaenidae, Nanotrachia gen. nov.)
Author
Köhler, Frank
Author
Criscione, Francesco
text
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
2013
Zool. J. Linn. Soc.
2013-08-29
169
1
103
123
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12051
journal article
10.1111/zoj.12051
0024-4082
4890431
281CB6ED-063E-4CF0-89A2-80EB3761BCDB
NANOTRACHIA
GEN. NOV.
Type
species:
Ordtrachia intermedia
Solem, 1984
.
Description
Shell (
Figs 4
,
5
):
Relatively small, flat, thin to moderately thick; periphery rounded to strongly keeled; spire moderately to weakly elevated; umbilicus open, wide, rarely partly concealed by columellar reflection; protoconch and teleoconch with dense, pointed periostracal projections and fine axial growth lines; teleoconch with or without axial ribs; last whorl moderately wide in cross section; apertural lip reflected, moderately expanded, without lip nodes; parietal wall thin; colour uniform, horn to brown.
Genitalia (
Figs 6
,
7
):
Spermoviduct, lacking diverticulum and stimulatory organs. Penial sheath well-developed, extending entire length of penis, membranous. Penial retractor muscle inserting on vas–epiphallic junction; in some species muscular fibres extending onto penial apex. Epiphallus well developed; wall comprising thick layers of muscle; connected to penis through simple duct and pore; length equivalent to 20–100% of penis. Vas deferens entering penial sheath basally to halfway up, before reflexing into epiphallus. Penis thin with thin wall; not coiled within penial sheath; inner penial wall with between one and three narrow to thick, straight or winding, longitudinal pilasters, in some species with regularly spaced, pointed corrugations. Vaginal length equivalent to 50–100% of penis, twice as long as free oviduct.
Bursa
copulatrix simple, distally slightly inflated, comparatively short, extending to, or nearly to, anterior end of spermoviduct.
Comparative remarks
Shell easily distinguished from other camaenid genera from the
VRD
and
EK
by its small size, flat shape, open umbilicus, microscopic pustulation. Differing from
Cristilabrum
Solem, 1981
,
Exiligada
,
Mesodontrachia
,
Ningbingia
Solem, 1981
,
Nodulabium
Criscione & Köhler, 2013
,
Ototrachia
Criscione & Köhler, 2013
,
Prototrachia
Solem, 1984
,
Pseudomesodontrachia
Criscione & Köhler, 2013
,
Turgenitubulus
Solem, 1981
, and
Vincentrachia
Criscione
& penis. Muscle fibres connecting median portion of epiphallus to penial apex. Vas deferens entering penial sheath halfway up. Inner penial wall with a single, wide, long, irregularly S-shaped pilaster, comprising apical two-thirds of wall. Vagina about as long as penis, from half to twice as long as free oviduct.
Comparative remarks
Shell similar to
N. costulata
sp. nov.
, differing from
N. carinata
sp. nov.
,
N. coronata
sp. nov.
, and
N. orientalis
by less developed peripheral keel, and from
N. levis
sp. nov.
by presence of axial ribs. Genital anatomy differing from
N. carinata
sp. nov.
,
N. coronata
sp. nov.
, and
N. levis
sp. nov.
by smooth penial wall pilasters and long epiphallus; differing from
N. costulata
sp. nov.
by fewer number of pilasters (one instead of three).
Figure 7.
Intraspecific variation of penial anatomy in
N. costulata
sp. nov.
A,
Nanotrachia
c.
costulata
(holotype WAM S66302); B,
Nanotrachia
c.
costulata
(WAM
S49174
); C,
Nanotrachia
c.
montejinni
ssp. nov.
(holotype NTM P48939); D,
Nanotrachia
c.
montejinni
(AM C.437659). Insets showing schematic cross section of midpenis. Scale bar = 2 mm.
Köhler, 2013 by smaller and less conical shape. Differing from most
Ordtrachia
species
by smaller size and presence of axial ribs, and from
O. elegans
by stronger axial sculpture and periostracal projections. Differing from
M. occidentalis
(
Fig. 4G
) by callus not detached from parietal wall.