Suniellus Breure, 1978

Breure, Abraham S. H., 2011, Annotated type catalogue of the Orthalicoidea (Mollusca, Gastropoda) in the Royal Belgian Institute of Sciences, Brussels, with descriptions of two new species, ZooKeys 101, pp. 1-50 : 26-27

Suniellus Breure, 1978

Remarks.

Hitherto this taxon was regarded a subgenus of Scutalus Albers, 1860. The latter genus appears to be polyphyletic (Breure, unpublished data); Suniellus is now interpreted as the high-altitude sister-group of Kuschelenia Hylton Scott, 1951 (cf. Breure 1979: fig. 172a), analogous to the relationship between Stenostylus and Drymaeus . There are currently four Suniellus species known, which are relatively undiffe rentiated in their external morphology; their vertical distribution extends 2600-4100 m ( Breure 1979). These species are known from Peru and Bolivia ( Breure 1978, 1979); the new taxon described herein thus extends the distribution range further north. In shell morphology the species may be confused with those of Stenostylus , but the protoconch sculpture separates the two taxa: a grating sculpture in Stenostylus ; axial wrinkles, which may be partly anastomosing, in Suniellus .

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