Salinator Hedley, 1900

Golding, Rosemary E., Ponder, Winston F. & Byrne, Maria, 2007, Taxonomy and anatomy of Amphiboloidea (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia: Archaeopulmonata), Zootaxa 1476, pp. 1-50 : 9-10

Genus Salinator Hedley, 1900

Salinator Hedley, 1900: 511 . Type species Ampullaria fragilis Lamarck, 1822 by original designation.

Diagnosis: Shell diameter to 13 mm, fragile, pale grey to brown, unpatterned or with one to several spiral brown bands; sutures deeply impressed; whorls rounded, lacking square shoulder; spire short to very short, convex; umbilicus of narrow to moderate width, lacking umbilical fold; aperture lip thin, bearing flattened, indented sinus near suture. Operculum entirely corneous, thin, pale yellow, with narrowly rounded upper columellar edge; nucleus eccentric with paucispiral striae; form of nucleus on inner surface variable. Head, foot grey or red in fresh and formalin-preserved specimens, with various pigmentation patterns. Mantle cavity with opposed ciliary tracts either extending full length of mantle cavity or restricted to exhalant canal. Hypobranchial gland oval, yellow in fresh and formalin-preserved specimens, flattened against right anterior surface of mantle cavity roof. Radula with central tooth bearing nine or more cusps present in all taxa, multicuspid lateral teeth present in some taxa, approximately 25 elongate, narrow marginal teeth on each side of radula. Circumoesophageal nerve ring euthyneurous with cerebral and pleural ganglia fused; subcerebral and parapedal commissures confirmed present in some taxa; visceral loop variably concentrated, accessory ganglion absent. Monaulic reproductive system with seminal vesicle diverticulum from upper hermaphrodite duct; seminal receptacle pigmented, black, opening to carrefour. Spermovipositor short, bearing folds and projections around aperture of spermoviduct; microsculpture either short conical projections, curved spines or elongate papillae; spermovipositor sheath highly folded, moderately thick, with several small pockets or enlarged pouch forming ‘accessory bursa’. Prostatic gland blind-ending, tubular structure attached to proximal spermovipositor, uniform for entire length. Egg mass deposited on substrate in semi-circular string, circular in cross-section, lacking sand or mud inclusions but often covered externally with substratum material (for known species).

Remarks: The majority of amphibolid species described to date have been placed in the genus Salinator , presumably because of their shell characters which generally resemble those of S. fragilis , such as a simple, globose shape with a flattened, indented sinus. Although primarily Australian, Salinator species have been described from other regions including S. burmana ( Blanford, 1867) ( Indonesia to India), S. sanchezi ( Quadras & Möllendorf, 1894) ( Philippines) and S. sanchezi subsp. spurca Yen, 1939 (Hainan, southern China). The status of these non-Australian taxa and their generic affiliations remain unknown as we have not been able to examine authentic material (see also Incertae sedis).