Endothyrella fultoni (Godwin-Austen, 1892)

Pall-Gergely, Barna, Budha, Prem B., Naggs, Fred, Backeljau, Thierry & Asami, Takahiro, 2015, Review of the genus Endothyrella Zilch, 1960 with description of five new species (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Plectopylidae), ZooKeys 529, pp. 1-70 : 27-29

Taxon classification Animalia Pulmonata Plectopylidae

Endothyrella fultoni (Godwin-Austen, 1892) Figures 12A, 19 C–D, 21, 22 B–C

Endothyrella fultoni 1892 Helix (Plectopylis) fultoni Godwin-Austen: The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 6 (10): 300-301. ["Exact locality unknown. Khasi Hills?"; detailed description on the exactness of the locality on page 301].

Endothyrella fultoni 1893 Plectopylis fultoni , - Pilsbry: Manual of Conchology..., 2 (8): 296, 297.

Endothyrella fultoni 1894 Plectopylis fultoni , - Pilsbry: Manual of Conchology..., 2 (9): 144, 146, Plate 40, figs 13-15.

Endothyrella fultoni 1896 Plectopylis fultoni , - Gude: Science Gossip, 3: 178-179, figs 23 a–b.

Endothyrella fultoni 1899c Plectopylis (Endothyra) fultoni , - Gude: Science Gossip, 6: 148.

Endothyrella fultoni 1899d Plectopylis (Endothyra) fultoni , - Gude: Science Gossip, 6: 175, 176.

Endothyrella fultoni 1914b Plectopylis (Endothyra) fultoni , - Gude: The Fauna of British India …: 72, 87-89, figs 36 a–b.

Types.

Khasi Hills (?) from Fulton, NHMUK 1903.7.1.301. (2 syntypes, Figure 12A).

Additional material examined.

Ost-Ind., coll. Gerstenbrandt, NHMW 5954/2; Khasi Hills, Assam, coll. Rušnov, ex coll. Blume, NHMW 71770/R/9 (1 shell); Khasi Hills, leg. Godwin-Austen, NHMW 19599/2; India, Meghalaya, Khasi Hills, leg. Godwin-Austen, Altonaer Museum, ZMH 45907/2; Khasi-Berge, coll. Möllendorff, SMF 150103/3; Assam, Cherrapoonjeh, SMF 150104/4; Ostindien, Assam, coll. C. R. Boettger 1909, SMF 102818/1; Indien, Khasi Berge, coll. Bosch ex coll. Rolle, SMF 172070/3; Khasi Hills, coll. W. Blanford, NHMUK 1906.1.1.737/2; Khasi Hills, coll. Fulton, NHMUK 20150146/3; Assam, Khasi Hills, coll. Trechmann, NHMUK 20150147/2; Assam, Khasi Hills, NHMUK 1892.9.11.9-11/3 (one of them is small juvenile); Assam, Khasi Hills, coll. Lucas, NHMUK 20150148/2; Assam, Khasi Hills, coll. Smith, NHMUK 1937.12.30.13862-13864/3; India, Khasi Hills, coll. Salisbury ex coll. Beddome, NHMUK 20150149/2; Khasi Hills, Assam, coll. Gude, coll. Kennard, NHMUK 20150150/9; Assam, Cherrapoonje, coll. Lucas, NHMUK 20150151/1; no locality, dissected dried animal, NHMUK 20150152/3; no locality, coll. Jousseaume, MNHN 2012-27052/1 juvenile shell.

Diagnosis.

Shell middle sized to large, sinistral, with reversed trapezoid shape, narrow umbilicus, angled body whorl, an apex which is elevated from the dorsal surface, and four rows of hairs on the body whorls; callus very strong; 3rd, 4th and 5th palatal plicae are divided in the middle, the others are more or less straight and horizontal; lamella vertical or oblique, with short lower and upper plicae above and below.

Measurements

(in mm): D: 19.9-20.3, H: 9.5-10.4 (n = 2, SMF 150103).

Differential diagnosis.

Endothyrella fultoni is much larger than any other Endothyrella species and has a characteristic reversed trapezoid shell shape. See also Table 5.

Description of the genitalia

(Figures 21, 22 B–C): A single specimen was anatomically examined. Collection data: Khasi, leg. Godwin-Austen, NHMUK 1903.7.1.598. The specimen had some embryos developing in the uterus. The whole body was very fragile, therefore the gametolytic sac and the diverticulum could not be dissected out.

The left ommatophoral retractor passes between penis and vagina. Atrium relatively long; penis long, consists of a longer, slimmer distal and a shorter, more thickened proximal part; at the proximal end of the penis there is a rounded bulb-like thickening (similar to that of some Gudeodiscus species, see Páll-Gergely and Asami 2014 and Páll-Gergely et al. 2015); penis internally with honey-comb-like tubercles without calcareous granules (Figure 22C); the somewhat slimmer penial caecum has some (approximately 8) parallel folds inside, which also form minute hollows standing in lines between the folds (Figure 22B); these small pockets may serve for small calcareous granules, although no granules were found; epiphallus enters penis at the basis of the rounded penial thickening; epiphallus relatively short, approximately as long as the proximal, thickened part of the penis; retractor muscle inserts on the proximal end of the penial caecum, it is approximately as long as the proximal part of the penis; vas deferens long and thick, it becomes curly near its insertion to the spermoviductus; vagina shorter than the the half of the penis; it has a vaginal bulb at the middle; two batch of fibres attach the proximal and distal part of the vaginal bulb to the body wall; there are also some longer and more slender muscle fibres attached to the vagina; between the atrium and the vaginal bulb there is a slender, longitudinal thickening on the inner vaginal wall; vaginal bulb internally with fine, irregularly reticulated sculpture; the area of the inner vaginal wall between the bulb and the spermoviductus is roughly reticulated; gametolytic sac relatively thick, the diverticulum is more slender.

Radula

(Figure 19 C–D): The radula of the only available specimen was very fragile, probably because of the age of the sample; only a fragment of the middle part of the radula could be examined; central tooth present, laterals 14, marginals at least 8; central tooth very long, but somewhat shorter than the endocone of the first lateral, although larger than the ectocones; central tooth elongated triangular with slightly concave marginal line; endocone of the laterals are rather rhomboid, blunt, ectocone pointed triangular; endocones of marginals deformed rhomboid, sometimes oval, showing the sign of becoming bicuspid; ectocones of marginals blunt or pointed triangular.

Distribution.

The species is assumed to occur in the Khasi hills ( Godwin-Austen 1892) (Figure 11).