Philalanka Godwin Austen, 1898

Vermeulen, Jaap J., Liew, Thor-Seng & Schilthuizen, Menno, 2015, Additions to the knowledge of the land snails of Sabah (Malaysia, Borneo), including 48 new species, ZooKeys 531, pp. 1-139 : 49-50

Taxon classification Animalia Stylommatophora Endodontidae

Genus Philalanka Godwin Austen, 1898

Endodonta subgenus Philalanka Godwin Austen, 1898: 11. Philalanka (Godwin Austen) Gude, 1914: 14; Naggs and Raheem 1999: 9.

Diagnosis for the Sabah species.

Shell conical to conical-ovoid, whorls somewhat depressed or not. Teleoconch: Radial sculpture prosocline, indistinct to coarse growth lines only, or with fine growth lines grading into rather densely placed, rather distinct riblets. Last whorl without spiral threads, or with 1-6 distinct spiral threads (next to a number of much finer spiral threads), the lowermost around the periphery, the others above the periphery and often interrupted. Umbilicus open, narrow, or closed.

Cross diagnosis.

Type of the genus is Philalanka secessa Godwin Austen, from Sri Lanka, a species comparable to Philalanka thienemanni , with a single peripheral thread on the last whorl. Next to these, species with more than one spiral thread (comparable to Philalanka kusana , below) are included by Gude (1914), next to species without any spiral sculpture (comparable to Philalanka malimgunung , below). Species with a single, conspicuous spiral thread and species without a spiral thread are difficult to distinguish from Kaliella ( Helicarionidae ). Such species have a wider umbilicus than Kaliella . Philalanka anomphala is the exception, with a closed umbilicus, but this has rather coarse, irregularly spaced growth lines, unlike any Kaliella .

Remarks.

On account of anatomical characters, Godwin Austen (1907[1897-1914]: 188), places the genus in the Endodontidae .

We divide the genus into two informal groups.