Zospeum

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Zospeum
Cave dwarf horn snail (Zospeum spelaeum)

Cave dwarf horn snail ( Zospeum spelaeum )

Systematics
Superordinate : Heterobranchia
Order : Lung snails (pulmonata)
Subordination : Eupulmonata
Superfamily : Ellobioidea
Family : Dwarf horn snails (Carychiidae)
Genre : Zospeum
Scientific name
Zospeum
Bourguignat , 1856

Zospeum is a genus of tiny snails thatlive exclusively in cavesand that belong to the dwarf horn snails (Carychiidae) within thepulmonate snails (Pulmonata). Due to their small size, they are also (non-systematically) called micro gastropods.

features

The right-hand wound housings are very small (1 to 2.5 millimeters high and 0.8 to 1.5 mm wide) and thin. Living animals have a transparent casing that turns milky white after death. The housing surface is smooth or provided with spiral stripes. The mouth is thickened with lips, with a parietal tooth and two spindle lamellae. The upper spindle lamella ends on the mouth wall.

The animals are hermaphrodites, but fertilization is one-sided, i.e. H. one partner acts as a female, the other as a male. The animal acting as a female forms the penis back.

Geographical distribution, habitat and way of life

Habitat of Zospeum tholussum in the Lukina Jama – Trojama cave system in Croatia.

The representatives of the genus Zospeum are distributed in the Palaearctic ; recent discoveries in caves in South China and South Korea extend the area considerably further east. Before this discovery, the area was limited to Europe. However, the affiliation of the Asian finds to Zospeum still has to be confirmed.

The Zospeum species are exclusively inhabitants of caves and underground karst fissures. You can find them from sea level up to 1850 m. The animals live on the constantly damp cave walls, on the cave floor or on rotting wood. They move only about 1 to 15 cm per week, on average about 7 mm per day, and this at a temperature of mostly below 10 ° C and a humidity of 97 to 100%.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus is consistently counted among the dwarf horn snails (Carychiidae), which, however, is partly treated as a family of the superfamily Ellobioidea, partly as a subfamily of the coastal snail family (Ellobiidae). The number of species is currently still uncertain as there is no modern, comprehensive revision of the group. Animalbase lists 17 species, the Fauna Europaea 21 species, whereby the Animalbase lists a species that is missing from Fauna Europaea. In addition, several subspecies are distinguished. Other species are listed in the Mollusc Database:

The types are z. Some of them are very poorly known, most of them are only defined morphologically. It is entirely possible that some of them turn out to be synonyms and thereby reduce the number of species. On the other hand, the integration of molecular data resulted in the realization that variable and widespread Zospeum morpho species in particular contain several cryptic evolutionary lines. Many of the species are only known from a small geographic region or even as cave endemics .

supporting documents

literature

  • Jochum, Adrienne 2011: Evolution and diversity of the troglobitic Carychiidae - A morphological and phylogenetic investigation of the terrestrial ellobiiod genera, Carychium and Zospeum . The Malacologist, 57: 16-18, London ( PDF ).
  • Jochum, A., Weigand, AM, Slapnik, R., Valentinčič, J., & Prieto, CE (2012). The microscopic ellobioid, Zospeum Bourguignat, 1856 (Pulmonata, Ellobioidea, Carychiidae) makes a big debut in Basque Country and the province of Burgos (Spain). MalaCo, 8, 400-403 ( PDF ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jochum (2011: p. 16ff.)
  2. ↑ Prozorova, L., Noseworthy, R., Lee, JS, Zasypkina, M. 2010: Korean cave malacofauna with emphasis on troglobitic carychiids (Pulmonata: Ellobioidea: Carychiidae). Tropical Natural History (Suppl. 3): 135.
  3. ^ Animalbase - Genus Zospeum Müller, 1773
  4. ↑ Fauna Europaea - Genus Zospeum
  5. ↑ Worldwide mollusc species database
  6. ↑ a b c d e Inäbnit, T., Jochum, A., Kampschulte, M., Martels, G., Ruthensteiner, B., Slapnik, R., ... & Neubert, E. (2019). An integrative taxonomic study reveals carychiid microsnails of the troglobitic genus Zospeum in the Eastern and Dinaric Alps (Gastropoda, Ellobioidea, Carychiinae). Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 19 (2), 135-177, doi: 10.1007 / s13127-019-00400-8 .
  7. ↑ a b c Jochum, A., Prieto, CE, Kampschulte, M., Martels, G., Ruthensteiner, B., Vrabec, M., ... & de Winter, AJ (2019). Re-evaluation of Zospeum schaufussi von Frauenfeld, 1862 and Z. suarezi Gittenberger, 1980, including the description of two new Iberian species using Computer Tomography (CT) (Eupulmonata, Ellobioidea, Carychiidae). ZooKeys 835: 65-86.
  8. ↑ Jochum, A., Slapnik, R., Klussmann-Kolb, A., Páll-Gergely, B., Kampschulte, M., Martels, G., ... & Weigand, AM (2015). Groping through the black box of variability: An integrative taxonomic and nomenclatural re-evaluation of Zospeum isselianum Pollonera, 1887 and allied species using new imaging technology (Nano-CT, SEM), conchological, histological and molecular data (Ellobioidea, Carychiidae). Subterranean Biology, 16, 123-165.
  9. ↑ Alonso A, Prieto CE, Quiñonero-Salgado S, Rolán E (2018) A morphological gap for Iberian Zospeum filled: Zospeum percostulatum sp. n. (Gastropoda, Eupulmonata, Carychiidae) a new species from Asturias (Spain). Subterranean Biology 25: 35-48. doi: 10.3897 / subtbiol.25.23364
  10. ↑ Weigand, A. (2013). New Zospeum species (Gastropoda, Ellobioidea, Carychiidae) from 980 m depth in the Lukina Jama – Trojama cave system (Velebit Mts., Croatia). Subterranean Biology, 11, 45.
  11. ↑ a b Jochum, A., De Winter, AJ, Weigand, AM, Gómez, B., & Prieto, C. (2015). Two new species of Zospeum Bourguignat, 1856 from the Basque-Cantabrian Mountains, Northern Spain (Eupulmonata, Ellobioidea, Carychiidae). ZooKeys, (483), 81. doi: 10.3897 / zookeys.483.9167
  12. ↑ Weigand, AM, Jochum, A, Slapnik, R, Schnitzler, J, Zarza, E and Klussmann-Kolb, A 2013: Evolution of microgastropods (Ellobioidea, Carychiidae): integrating taxonomic, phylogenetic and evolutionary hypotheses. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013, 1:18 pm (PDF; 2.7 MB)
  13. ↑ Weigand, AM 2013: New Zospeum species (Gastropoda, Ellobioidea, Carychiidae) from 980 m depth in the Lukina Jama – Trojama cave system (Velebit Mts., Croatia). Subterranean Biology 11, 45-53. doi : 10.3897 / subtbiol.11.5966

Web links

Commons : Zospeum  - collection of images, videos and audio files