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Four new species and one new subspecies of tateid freshwater gastropods are described from the north of the South Island of New Zealand, Catapyrgus jami sp. nov., Opacuincola lisannea sp. nov., O. gretathunbergae sp. nov., O. mete kahurangi ssp. nov. and Obtusopyrgus farri sp. nov. The species are integratively defined based on a combination of shell morphological, anatomical and mitochondrial DNA data. Morphological and anatomical data were generated by morphometrics, scanning electron microscopy, as well as micro-computed tomography. The genetic data were basis of phylogenetic analyses and incorporated into the diagnoses. The new taxa occur in springs or spring-like habitats, i.e., shallow, slow-flowing sections of small streams except for O. mete kahurangi subsp. nov., which was collected from rough rocks in a river, where the snails sat in small depressions. None of the species exceeded 2.75 mm in length. Opacuincola gretathunbergae sp. nov. and Obtusopyrgus farri sp. nov. are pigmented and true crenobionts, while C. jami sp. nov. and the sympatric Opacuincola lisannea sp. nov. have eyes of reduced size and lack epidermal pigment, hence, probably dwell in the transitional zone of epigean and groundwaters.
Five new species of freshwater gastropods of the tateid genus Sulawesidrobia are described from the ancient Lake Matano on Sulawesi, Indonesia: S. wilsoni sp. nov., S. carsonae sp. nov., S. ehrlichi sp. nov., S. crutzeni sp. nov., and S. dinersteini sp. nov. The descriptions were based on shell morphology, anatomy as well as phylogenetic analysis using DNA sequence data of a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I. All three suits of characters were included into the diagnoses. The new species formed a clade with two species from Lake Towuti, but separate from already known species from Lake Matano. The species were discovered between 2003 and 2005. However, not a single specimen of Sulawesidrobia was found when several sites were revisited in 2018 and 2019. This may be a consequence of the release of South American flowerhorn cichlid fish into the lake, in combination with heavy eutrophication of the once ultra-oligotrophic lake. It seems likely that several populations or even entire species of Sulawesidrobia in Lake Matano may be extinct. The species names given reflect this by acknowledging important conservationists.
During systematic surveys of groundwater snails in Slovakia, Hungary and Bosnia and Hercegovina two new species of the genus Hauffenia, H. lozekiana sp. nov. from a single locality in Slovakia, and H. steffeki sp. nov. with a small range in Bosnia and Hercegovina were discovered and are here described based on shell morphology, anatomy and DNA sequence data (COI, 16S rRNA, ITS2). The discovery of H. steffeki sp. nov. extends the range of the genus considerably towards the south. Hauffenia lozekiana sp. nov. appears to be a relict surviving within the range of the today widely distributed H. kissdalmae. Based on a time tree, we developed a scenario for the origin and diversification of the genus. The ancestor probably evolved in the Miocene on the Balkans and with the gradual desiccation of the Paratethys and its remnant water bodies diversified towards the north. Karstic and in particular alluvial connectivities together with changing courses of paleo-rivers probably played an important role for dispersal. Ecological observations suggest that the phreatic rhizosphere, the delicate net of tree rootlets and their exudates, are important for the existence of these groundwater snails.
Walter Biese described Littoridina santiagensis Biese, 1944 (Cochliopidae) from Estero Dehesa in 1944 based exclusively on external shell features and a second allopatric population in Yeso Spring three years later. Since 2011 different samplings have been carried out at the type locality and have only provided specimens of the morphologically similar invasive mudsnail Potamopyrgus antipodarum Gray, 1843 (Tateidae), raising doubts about the identity of the species. The recent finding of two snail morphotypes in Yeso Spring, a thick shelled form congruent with type specimens of L. santiagensis and a slender one morphologically associable to P. antipodarum, allowed comparative studies, including the taxonomic analysis of additional populations with similar shell morphology occurring in central Chile. A DNA barcoding (COI) approach identified the slender form from Yeso Spring in Maipo Basin and a second population from the contiguous Rapel Basin indeed as the invasive P. antipodarum; however, L. santiagensis was recovered among species of Potamolithus Pilsbry, 1896 (Tateidae), justifying the Potamolithus santiagensis (Biese, 1944) comb. nov. Besides recognition of three other populations as belonging to Potamolithus, the molecular analysis also suggests trans-Andean dispersal of this group of snails in the Southern Cone of South America.