Kerkophorus Godwin-Austen, 1912

Herbert, David G., 2017, A new genus and eight new species of tail-wagger snails from eastern South Africa, with a key to genera within Sheldonia s. l. (Gastropoda: Urocyclidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 309, pp. 1-50 : 4-5

Genus Kerkophorus Godwin-Austen, 1912

Kerkophorus Godwin-Austen, 1912a: 127 . Type species (original designation) Zingis inuncta Melvill & Ponsonby, 1899 .

? Andrarion Godwin-Austen, 1912b: 582 . Type species (monotypy) Andrarion pumilio Melvill & Ponsonby, 1909 .

Remarks

Kerkophorus includes both arboreal and ground-dwelling species exhibiting relatively diverse shell morphology and considerable variation in the form of the male distal genitalia. The shells may be glossy or lustreless, lenticular to sub-globose, uniformly coloured, bicoloured or peripherally banded, and the genital atrium may or may not be enlarged and possess a fleshy stimulator. In general, however, all have a non-punctate protoconch, a rimate umbilicus, a relatively short epiphallus and the caecum is large and elongate, arising very close to the insertion of the penial retractor muscle. In addition, the spermatophore usually has a single tail, its spines are antler-like, terminating in deeply V-shaped bifurcations, with slender, pointed tips, and the spineless distal portion of the tail is relatively short and lacks lateral projections. However, some of these characters are not without exception and in reality Kerkophorus itself almost certainly encompasses a number of distinct sub-lineages, as exemplified by Kerkophorus s.s. (arboreal, lenticular), K. puzeyi ( Connolly, 1939) and K. scrobicolus sp. nov. (arboreal with bifid spermatophore tail), K. poeppigii (Pfeiffer, 1846) (ground-dwelling, sub-globose) and K. perlevis (ground-dwelling, lenticular), and probably others (cf. K. terrestris sp. nov., below).

In Microkerkus Godwin-Austen, 1912 , which Watson (1934) and Connolly (1939) considered a synonym of Kerkophorus , the epiphallus is much longer and the caecum is small, globose rather than elongate, and it is situated closer to the middle of the epiphallus, rather than adjacent to the insertion of the penial retractor muscle. In addition, the tail of the spermatophore is bifid in Microkerkus .

Godwin-Austen (1912b) provided very limited data to support his taxon Andrarion and it remains poorly known. Like Watson (1934), I believe that it may have been based on juvenile specimens of a species of Kerkophorus (Herbert 2016) and I consider that it is best treated as a synonym thereof.