A new species of Haploptychius Mollendorff, 1906 (Stylommatophora: Streptaxidae) from the Western Ghats, India

摘要

We here describe a new species of the streptaxid snail genus Haploptychius from the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra, which is the third member of the genus from India. Haploptychius sahyadriensis n. sp. is distinguished from the other Indian and South-East Asian Haploptychius sp. in having suboblique-heliciform shell, low spire and presence of one strong parietal lamella. The new species has unique genital anatomy in having a long penis with a penial sheath, the presence of penial appendix, penial hooks, atrium and vagina with longitudinal ridges and irregular transverse ridges respectively, but without any hooks. It bears a shiny muscle near the junction of the vagina, gametolytic duct and the free oviduct. Based on the shell morphology and genital characters, the new species is placed in the genus Haploptychius. Our study reveals that other unexplored areas in the northern Western Ghats may potentially harbour more undescribed land snail species which could be endemic.