On a new species of Isomeria Beck and redescription of species of Labyrinthus Beck from South America (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Camaenidae)
Author
Cuezzo, Maria Gabriela
text
Zootaxa
2006
1221
1
23
journal article
50742
10.5281/zenodo.172563
d325feef-2116-4c36-9571-ea93d68c89a4
11755326
172563
Genus
Labyrinthus
Beck, 1837
Type
species:
Helix otis
Lightfoot, 1786
(=
Helix labyrinthus
"Chemnitz
" Deshayes, 1838) by subsequent designation by
Herrmannsen (1846: 569)
.
Diagnosis:
Shell small to large (
10–60 mm
) usually uniformly colored; sculpture of wrinkles or granulations, without axial ribs; periphery angulated or keeled; aperture strongly obstructed with denticles and lamellae; shell mark of basal internal tooth always diagonal respect to apertural lip; parietal single lamellae rectangular, merged or not with parietal lip; parietal lip usually raised, lower inner internal palatal lip wall with Tshaped lamellae, or two Yshaped teeth or conical transverse lamellae; jaw smooth or weakly ribbed; alveoli of ovotestis ovoid to digitiform; bursa copulatrix oval, well differentiated, reflexed over distal portion of duct; penis (in some species also vagina) with hooked denticles of
300 to 400 m
of basal plate maximum length.
Distribution:
From
Costa Rica
south to the Cuzco department in
Peru
. Easternmost records are in Pará
Brazil
, although
Labyrinthus
is mainly known from
Colombia
,
Ecuador
and
Peru
.
Discussion:
Labyrinthus
is a monophyletic genus, characterized by the following synapomorphies (
Cuezzo 2003
): basal internal tooth with diagonal shell mark; internal parietal teeth rectangular or folded merging with the peristome; lower internal palatal wall with two Yshaped teeth; body whorl shouldered; ovotestis with digitiform alveoli and bursa copulatrix sac reflexed over the duct.
The presence of the reflected penisepiphallus attached by muscular strands is a character shared with its closest relatives
Isomeria
and
Solaropsis
.
Internal hooked denticles are present on top of the ridges in penis and vagina in the two investigated species of
Isomeria
but not in the eight species of
Solaropsis
, in which anatomy was studied (
Tillier 1980
,
Cuezzo 2001
). Penial hooked denticles have only been reported in the
Scolodontidae
(=
Systrophiidae
), in
Streptaxidae
as well as in some
Zonitidae
and
Oxychilidae
in the
Stylommatophora (
Hausdorf 2003
)
. Similar hooked denticles were reported in dorid nudibranchs (
Valdés 2004
), in which they function to reinforce the anchoring of the penis inside the vagina of the partner to prevent premature separation (
Valdés 2004
). However, in both
Labyrinthus
and
Isomeria
the hooked denticles are present not only in the penis but also in the vagina in most of the species. The function of the penial and vaginal hooked denticles in both genera is probably related to sexual stimulation and to anchoring penis in the vagina. Penial denticles are smaller in
Isomeria
(
180–200 m
of basal plate length) than in
Labyrinthus
(
300–400 m
of basal plate length).