Carychium minimum Müller, 1774

Weigand Marie-Carolin Götze Adrienne Jochum, Alexander M., 2012, Outdated but established?! Conchologically driven species delineations in microgastropods (Carychiidae, Carychium), Organisms Diversity & Evolution (New York, N. Y.) 12 (4), pp. 377-386 : 382

Morphospecies Carychium minimum Müller, 1774

The white translucent shell is ovate-conic and ranges from 1.6–2.0 mm in height. The shell is less slender than that of C. tridentatum , and the diameter is broader in relation to height, ranging from 0.8–1.0 mm. The surface sculpture consists of fine, thread-like, closely spaced transverse striae. The 4½–5 whorls are separated by more oblique sutures compared with C. tridentatum . The upper parietal lamella reveals the characteristic, weak sinuous flexion as described by previous authors ( Zimmermann 1925; Watson and Verdcourt 1953; Lozek 1957; Pintér 1967; Kerney et al. 1979; Bank and Gittenberger 1985). Our FE-SEM ventral and side observations and image data of C. minimum reveal neither new dimensions nor substantial differences in contrast to all previous descriptions of this species ( Fig. 2 ).

Figures

Fig. 2 FE-SEM results of conchological details of Carychium tridentatum, C. minimum and C. mariae morphospecies. Shells are arranged in the following order (left to right): ventral view, side view, dorsal view, columellar view. Locality information can be retrieved from Table 1