Diancta aurea, Neubert, Eike & Bouchet, Philippe, 2015

Neubert, Eike & Bouchet, Philippe, 2015, The Diplommatinidae of Fiji - a hotspot of Pacific land snail biodiversity (Caenogastropoda, Cyclophoroidea), ZooKeys 487, pp. 1-85 : 10

Taxon classification Animalia Mesogastropoda Diplommatinidae

Diancta aurea sp. n. Figs 13-15

Type material.

Holotype MNHN IM-2000-27412, paratypes MNHN/15 IM-2000-27413, NMBE 516869/3. Type locality: Viti Levu, Wailotua karst, 50-80 m, rainforest, -17.7582 178.4166, leg. Bouchet, 25-27.08.1998.

Etymology.

Latin adjective aureus, -a, -um = golden; with reference to the peculiar colour of fresh shells of this species.

Diagnosis.

Shell sinistral, yellow, narrow periomphalum, with a few very strong ribs on the last third of the last whorl, internal dentition almost completely reduced.

Description.

Shell sinistral, small, of a bright yellow colour; last whorl constricted; protoconch broad, obtuse with a pitted microsculpture; umbilicus closed, very narrow periomphalum; teleoconch sculpture initially of coarse widely spaced ribs, changing to a more dense pattern on the next two whorls, almost smooth on the last whorl (particularly above the aperture), followed by a few very strong ribs on the last third of the last whorl; last whorl slightly ascending; aperture circular, not connected to the last whorl, peristome funnel-shaped, simple; apertural rims connected, with a small parietal shield; no dentition visible in the aperture in frontal view; columellar plate with a narrow internal part, outer part reduced to a basal knob.

Operculum corneous, flat, small apophysis, OD = 0.58.

Measurements.

Holotype (Fig. 13): H = 3.48; D = 2.35; PH = 1.46; PD = 1.38; W = 4.5.

Distribution

(Fig. 170). Only known from the type locality.

Remarks.

Diancta aurea sp. n. differs from three species of similar size by the following character states: Diancta basiplana sp. n. differs in the remarkable form of its enlarged last whorl, Diancta subquadrata sp. n. in its much finer ribbing pattern on the teleoconch, and Diancta aurita sp. n. in its characteristic formation of the apertural process and the deep orange apertural shield.