Paladilhiopsis szekeresi, Grego, Jozef, Gloeer, Peter, Eross, Zoltan Peter & Feher, Zoltan, 2017

Grego, Jozef, Gloeer, Peter, Eross, Zoltan Peter & Feher, Zoltan, 2017, Six new subterranean freshwater gastropod species from northern Albania and some new records from Albania and Kosovo (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Moitessieriidae and Hydrobiidae), Subterranean Biology 23, pp. 85-107 : 89

Paladilhiopsis szekeresi sp. n. Figs 7-8

Diagnosis.

Differs from Paladilhiopsis lozeki sp. n. (Albania, Shosan) by its smaller and less elongate shell, more tumid whorls, less conspicuous apex, broader umbilicus, and the shape of the aperture. From Paladilhiopsis prekalensis sp. n. (Albania, Prekal) it differs by a more prominent apex, less convex whorls, less elongated and less declined aperture from the columella and by the broader umbilicus. The sympatric Paladilhiopsis wohlberedti sp. n. has a much more conical shell. Montenegrospeum bogici (Montenegro, Podgorica) from family Hydrobiidae has a slightly larger, more conical shell with more tumid whorls and proportionally larger aperture. Bosnidilhia vreloana (Bosnia, Banja Luka) has a somewhat similar shell with fewer, more tumid whorls, blunter apex, and a smaller, more elongate, oval aperture.

Type

locality.

Albania, Malësia district, Tamarë, a spring above the trout farm at the right side of valley, north of the village, 360 m, 42.4745°N; 19.5693°E (Fig. 2C).

Type

material.

Holotype: Type locality, leg. Erőss, Fehér, Grego, Szekeres, and 27.06.2016 (HNHM 100170), Paratypes: same data (NHMW 111657/1, further 1 specimen in coll. Glöer and 1 specimen in coll. Grego).

Measurements.

Holotype H 1.7 mm; W 0.8 mm; WB 0.65 mm; HA/H 0.34; HB/H 0.28; Paratypes H: 1.5-1.8 mm, W: 0.7-0.9 mm. WB: 0.6-0.7 mm. Paratypes have broken apices, measurements not provided.

Etymology.

Named after our colleague and friend, a prominent specialist of the family Clausiliidae , Miklós Szekeres (Szeged, Hungary), who accompanied us on the field trip in 2016

Description.

The shell is whitish, consisting of 5, slightly convex whorls with a semi deep suture and a blunt rounded apex. The rapidly expanding first apical whorl makes the shell shape oval-elongate. The aperture is ovoid expanded on its right side, and the umbilicus is semi-opened and deep. The left side of the aperture is situated slightly left of the columellar axis. The upper part of the aperture is slightly detached from the body whorl at the suture.

Habitat.

Empty shells of the new species were collected at sand among stones and inside a small concrete well-built directly on the spring zone. The only known locality is a permanent spring that arises at the junction of a large debris zone and the limestone massif (concrete well) with a second permanent outflow from a large debris about 30 m upstream the small valley. The lower active spring and well are connected to a pipeline and an aqueduct supplying a trout farm on the right bank of the Cem (Cijevna) River. A large temporary spring outlet is situated under a vertical limestone wall at the end of the deeply cut gorge about 100 m northwest of the two permanent springs, and the large oval boulders indicate a significantly higher temporary water flow during wet seasons and during the snow melting. The morphology of the gorge indicates its genesis by the collapse of a cave portal. The new species likely inhabits the interstitial water of the debris and the flooded caverns within a cave system present behind the debris.

Distribution.

Only known from the type locality, where it was found syntopticaly with the more abundant Paladilhiopsis wohlberedti sp. n.