Minaselates, Cuezzo & Pena, 2017

Cuezzo, Maria Gabriela & Pena, Meire Silva, 2017, Minaselates, a new genus and new species of Epiphragmophoridae from Brazil (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Helicoidea), Zoologia (e 13230) 34, pp. 1-12 : 3

Minaselates gen. n.

http://zoobank.org/ 48537C28-29CA-4488-97FF-1C570990D9F9

Diagnosis. Minaselates gen. n. is distinguished by the following characters: 1) shell globose with blunt apex; 2) protoconch sculptured with granules; 3) teleoconch sculptured with complex microstructures; 4) umbilicus imperforate, parietal wall fused with columellar zone of peristome; 5) wavy spiral lines below the periphery and over ventral teleoconch surface; 6) genitalia with a dart apparatus composed by a single dart sac and two unequal mucous glands, one globose and the other oval; 7) presence of a flagellar caecum; 8) bursa copulatrix duct short, no longer than the sac.

Type species. Minaselates paradoxa sp. n. by original designation.

Description. Shell globose, with 4 to 5 convex whorls. Spire conic with blunt apex. Protoconch granulose. Teleoconch sculptured. Wavy spiral grooves at the ventral teleoconch surface. Aperture subcircular with thin peristome. Umbilicus closed. Presence of spiral brownish bands more pronounced in the body whorl.Kidney long and thin, more than half the lung roof length. Genitalia with a dart apparatus and two unequal mucous glands.

Etymology. Minaselates is a compound name formed by Minas in honor to the Brazilian state where the species was found, and selates, a noun in the genitive singular, that derives from the Greek meaning “snail” ( Brown 1979).

Remarks. Minaselates gen. n. is classified in Epiphragmophoridae because it has a dart apparatus and two unequal mucous glands at the terminal genitalia. These structures are diagnostic of Epiphragmophoridae (Helicoidea) and their morphology serve to differentiate this family from the remaining helicoidean groups. Dinotropis differs from Minaselates in its depressed shell with an acute peripheral keel and open umbilicus. Minaselates differs from Epiphragmophora in its general shell shape with blunt apex, granulose protoconch and complex sculpture of the teleoconch surface. The wavy spiral grooves at the ventral teleoconch surface in Minaselates are lacking in both, Epiphragmophora and Dinotropis . The presence of a long and thin kidney in Minaselates is very different to the kidney shape in Epiphragmophora , which is triangular and shorter.