Angustopila dominikae
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Angustopila dominikae |
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| Páll-Gergely & Hunyadi , 2015 |
Angustopila dominikae is a species of snail in the Hypselostomatidae family. It has so far only been found at the type locality of the species in southern China. With a shell height of 0.86 mm, it is considered the smallest land snail . In November 2015, Acmella nana Vermeulen, Liew & Schilthuizen, 2015 Borneo published a land-based snail with an even lower shell height (0.60 to 0.79 mm). However, it belongs to the Assimineidae familyfrom the Caenogastropoda group .
features
The spherical case is very small and measures only 0.86 mm in height and 0.80 mm in width; this gives a width / height index of 0.93. The housing has 4.75 shouldered turns, which are separated from each other by a deep seam. The embryonic housing has 1.5 turns. The penultimate turn is the furthest passage in the mouth view. The navel is narrow and deep. The mouth is obliquely egg-shaped in plan view, the wider end is at the spindle edge. The edge of the mouth is sharp and slightly flared outwards. Inside, it is callously thickened with an upper parietal tooth located quite far forward and a lower palatal tooth located exactly opposite and deeper in the mouth. In addition to the parietal tooth, there is a very small tubercle that can perhaps be homologated with an angular tooth. The mouth plane is inclined to the winding axis and protrudes both dorsally and on the spindle side. In the side view, the mouth edge is slightly convex at the level of the palatal tooth. In the area between the parietal tooth and the spindle, the parietal callus lies against the previous turn. In the area between the parietal tooth and the upper sinulus, however, the callus is detached from the previous turn. The mouth is 0.3 mm wide and 0.37 mm high, giving a mouth width / mouth height index of 1.23.
The shell is colored light gray. The surface of the Protoconch shows a fine dimple and grain ornament. The granular microstructure is oriented radially to the first turn and ends on the second turn. The Teleoconch has a fine radial streak of growth at irregular intervals, which are crossed by fine spiral, thread-like lines at equal intervals.
Similar species
Angustopila tamlod from Thailand also has a parietal and a palatal tooth as the mouth reinforcement , but the housing is clearly conical (in contrast to the spherical housing in Angustopila dominikae ). First type also has a narrower navel and a rounded mouth. Angustopila huoyani is larger than Angustopila dominikae and has a more conical shell. The case also has more turns and a narrower navel. It also has two teeth in the coil, but these are smaller. The spiral, thread-like lines are missing or only very weak. The sympatric species Angustopila subelevata also has a conical housing, but this species lacks the two teeth in the mouth.
Geographical distribution and habitat
The species (or the holotype) is known so far only from the type locality at the foot of cliffs at the southern end of Jiaole Cun (交 乐 村), Bama Xian (巴马 县), Hechi Shi (河池 市) in the Chinese autonomous region of Guangxi (广西) ( ).
The only housing was found in a soil sample at the foot of cliffs. This leads to the conclusion that Angustopila dominikae lives on calcareous walls (comparable to other species from the Hypselostomatidae family).
Taxonomy
Angustopila dominikae was first described in 2015 by Barna Páll-Gergely and András Hunyadi . It was assigned to the genus Angustopila , which was established only a year earlier by Adrienne Jochum, Rajko Slapnik and Barna Páll-Gergely . The species is named after Dominika Páll-Gergely, the wife of the first author Barna Páll-Gergely.
The holotype and the only known specimen was collected on September 10, 2013 by András Hunyadi and Miklós Szekeres at the type locality (590 meters above sea level, 24 ° 7,045 ′ N, 107 ° 7,847 ′ E) and is stored under the number HNHM 99435 kept in the Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum in Budapest (Hungary).
Danger
Due to the only specimen found so far, it is hardly possible to make a statement about the endangerment of the species. The species is so far only known from one locality, according to the criteria of the IUCN, the species is classified as critically endangered.
Reception in the press
The discovery of the smallest terrestrial snail species to date met with considerable media coverage. The press found the photo of the new species made available by Barna Páll-Gergely and Nikolett Szpisjak, which shows the housing of Angustopila dominikae in the eye of a needle, particularly impressive . “Ten of this snail species fit into the eye of a needle” or similar, as well as “Possibly the smallest land snail in the world, Angustopila dominikae ” or similar were frequent titles in press reports.
supporting documents
literature
- Barna Páll-Gergely, András Hunyadi, Adrienne Jokum, Takahiro Asami: Seven new hypselostomatid species from China, including some of the world's smallest land snails (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Orthurethra). ZooKeys 523: 31-62, 2015. doi : 10.3897 / zookeys.523.6114
- Adrienne Jochum, Rajko Slapnik, Marian Kampschulte, Gunhild Martels, Markus Heneka, Barna Páll-Gergely: A review of the microgastropod genus Systenostoma Bavay & Dautzenberg, 1908 and a new subterranean species from China (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Hypselostomatidae). Zookeys, 410: 23-40, 2014 doi : 10.3897 / zookeys.410.7488
- Anatolij A. Schileyko: Treatise on Recent Terrestrial Pulmonate Molluscs. Part 2. Gastrocoptidae, Hypselostomatidae, Vertiginidae, Truncatellinidae, Pachnodidae, Enidae, Sagdidae. Ruthenica, Supplement 2 (2): 129-261, Moscow 1998 ISSN 0136-0027
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jaap J. Vermeulen, Thor-Seng Liew, Menno Schilthuizen: Additions to the knowledge of the land snails of Sabah (Malaysia, Borneo), including 48 new species. ZooKeys 531: 1-139 (November 2, 2015) doi : 10.3897 / zookeys.531.6097
- ↑ a b Frankfurter Rundschau: Space for ten in the eye of a needle: Tiny snails discovered ( Memento from October 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b The Guardian: World's smallest snail discovered in China
- ↑ a b c Ten of this type of snail fit into the eye of a needle. The world
- ↑ Nordbayerischer Kurier: The possibly smallest land snail in the world, Angustopila dominikae ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
