Sarika Godwin-Austen, 1907

Pholyotha, Arthit, Sutcharit, Chirasak, Tongkerd, Piyoros & Panha, Somsak, 2020, Integrative taxonomic revision of the land snail genus Sarika Godwin-Austen, 1907 in Thailand, with descriptions of nine new species (Eupulmonata, Ariophantidae), ZooKeys 976, pp. 1-100 : 1

Genus Sarika Godwin-Austen, 1907

Sarika Godwin-Austen 1907: 179. Blanford and Godwin-Austen 1908: 276. Zilch 1959: 325. Solem 1966: 36. Schileyko 2002: 1288. Sutcharit and Panha 2008: 96. Pholyotha et al. 2020c: 13, 14. Pholyotha et al. 2020a: 5.

Type species.

Helix resplendens Philippi 1846, by original designation in Godwin-Austen 1907: 179.

Diagnostic description.

Shell thin to moderately solid, semi-translucent, pale milky to brown, depressed discoidal to globosely depressed with 5-8 convex whorls. Shell surface smooth, glossy, with very fine growth lines. Body whorl rounded, angulated to shouldered. Aperture crescentic with simple lip or rarely expanded lip. Umbilicus narrowly opened.

Genitalia with penial retractor muscle attached to tip of epiphallic caecum; penis generally without penial verge, except for S. consepta ( Benson 1860) and S. nana Pholyotha & Panha, 2020 (see Pholyotha et al. 2020a, 2020c), rarely present pseudo-verge; flagellum short to long; gametolytic duct long; dart apparatus large cylindrical.

Spermatophore long and needle-shaped with three recognizable sections: (i) head filament rather short, (ii) cylindrical sperm sac containing sperm mass, and (iii) tail filament long thick walled tube with small hole in cross section and several spines present.

Radular teeth with symmetrical tricuspid central tooth, asymmetrical tricuspid lateral teeth, and bicuspid marginal teeth.

Species of Sarika with well-developed mantle edge (mantle lobe) with four lobes (one shell lobe and three dorsal lobes) or five lobes (two shell lobes and three dorsal lobes); sole tripartite, lateral foot margin, caudal foss, and caudal horn present.

Remarks.

All species of Sarika whose genital anatomy is known have a straight (un-coiled) epiphallic caecum and can be divided into three species groups. This informal subdivision is based on the number of mantle lobes, structure of genitalia and spermatophore (when available). It may be helpful as an alternative aid to identification.

Group I: Sarika resplendens group. Has five mantle lobes (with left shell lobe; Figs 2 , 9A ), penis without penial verge and pseudo-verge (Fig. 3D ) and spermatophore usually with three spines on the connection between sperm sac and tail filament (Fig. 4B ). This group comprises 10 species: S. resplendens , S. dohrniana , S. obesior , S. limbata , S. heptagyra , S. kawtaoensis , S. caligina sp. nov., S. lactospira sp. nov., S. megalogyne sp. nov., and S. subheptagyra sp. nov.

Group II: Sarika hainesi group. Has four mantle lobes (left shell lobe wanting; Fig. 33A ), penis without penial verge and pseudo-verge, and spermatophore usually with two spines on connection between sperm sac and tail filament (Fig. 4B ). This group comprises five species: S. hainesi , S. bocourti , S. inferospira sp. nov., S. melanospira sp. nov., and S. pellosa sp. nov.

Group III: Sarika dugasti group. Has five mantle lobes as in group I, penis with pseudo-verge (Fig. 3D ), which probably originates from an invagination of the penial wall to become a large papilla (penial verge like). Unfortunately, no information about the spermatophore. This group comprises two species: S. dugasti and S. solemi sp. nov.

Figures

Figure 2. Schematic drawing of the mantle terminology of Sarika showing five mantle lobes (two shell lobes and three dorsal lobes).

Figure 3. An illustrated synopsis of the shell and penis. A shell shape B whorl periphery C inner sculpture of the penis D appendage inside penis (no penial verge, pseudo-verge, and penial verge). Yellow arrowheads indicate the invagination of the penial wall.

Figure 4. An illustrated synopsis of the spermatophore. A sculpture of head filament B branching spines on the region near the sperm sac of the tail filament C cross section of tail filament with a hollow tube.

Figure 9. Living snails of group I: Sarika resplendens group. A Sarika resplendens specimen CUMZ 7843 showing left shell lobe lobes (lsl) B S. resplendens specimen CUMZ 7827 C mating pairs of S. resplendens CUMZ 7876 D S. dohrniana specimen CUMZ 7611 E S. obesior specimen CUMZ 7673 F S. limbata specimen CUMZ 7652. All not to scale.

Figure 33. Living snails of group II: Sarika hainesi group. A Sarika bocourti specimen CUMZ 7591 showing no left shell lobe (yellow arrow) B S. hainesi specimen CUMZ 7237 C S. bocourti specimen CUMZ 7591 D S. inferospira sp. nov. specimen CUMZ 7257 E S. melanospira sp. nov. paratype CUMZ 7243, and F S. pellosa sp. nov. paratype CUMZ 7517. Not to scale.