Cochlostoma (Lovcenia) erika A.J. Wagner 1906
Creators: name: Zallot, Enrico
name: Fehér, Zoltán
name: Bamberger, Sonja
name: Gittenberger, Edmund
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Architaenioglossa
Cochlostomatidae
Cochlostoma
Cochlostoma erika

description: Cochlostoma (Lovcenia) erika (A.J. Wagner, 1906)
Figs 5A, 6A, 7–8
Auritus (Auritus) erika A.J. Wagner, 1906: 132, pl. 4, fig. 15a–b.
Auritus (Auritus) erika – Kobelt 1907: 40, pl. 350, fig. 2178.
Cochlostoma erika – Jaeckel et al. 1957: 171. — Welter-Schultes 2012: 94.
Cochlostoma (Turritus) erika – Zilch 1958: 64. — Gittenberger 1976: 281, fig. 9.
Cochlostoma (Lovcenia) erika – Zallot et al. 2015: 80, figs 7–8, 13, 14.
Diagnosis
Cochlostoma (Lovcenia) erika differs from C. (L.) dalmatinum by the more regularly spaced and uniform ribs, which are larger and more variable in prominence in the latter species. It differs from C. (L.) jakschae sp. nov. and C. (L.) tropojanum sp. nov. by the indented, acutely curved columellar lobe, which is not gently curved inward, and from C. (L.) lanatum sp. nov. by the larger and more tumid shell with less prominent ribs.
Material examined
Lectotype MONTENEGRO: “ Popovo Höhle bei Njegus ” [Popovo cave near Njeguš], 43.5291º N, 19.2074º E, 30 May 1903, Sturany leg. (NHMW 38260 a). Here designated.
Paralectotypes MONTENEGRO: 24 spec., same collection data as for lectotype (NHMW 38260b/10, NHMW 38469/6, NHMW-K 15368/4, NHMW 71640/O/8548/2, SMF 160854/2).
Other material
MONTENEGRO: same locality as lectotype but 1120 m a.s.l., Erőss and Fehér leg., 21 April 2000 (HNHM 86387); same locality as lectotype, Deli, Domokos, Nacsa and Páll-Gergely leg., 4 April 2006 (HNHM 97109); same locality as lectotype, Fuchs leg. (NHMW-K 47075); same locality as lectotype, Dabović leg. (NHMW-E 49343, NHMW-E 18270, NHMW-K 4447, NHMW-K 51886, NHMW-K 47074); Njeguš, karstic doline near a cave entrance, 900 m a.s.l., Jul. 1977, Maassen leg. (NHMW 81027); same locality as preceding, 17 May 1975, Gittenberger leg. (RMNH 117451); Duboki Do Cave near Krstac, Fuchs leg. (NHMW-E 28673, NHMW-K 15369, NHMW-K 8173).
Measurements
Lectotype: H 9.5 mm, W 4.5 mm, Wbw 3.8 mm, Ha 3.6 mm, Wa 3.6 mm.
NHMW 38260b (N =6) and NHMW-K 47075 (N=6): H 8.9–10.1 mm, W 4.4–4.9 mm, Wbw 3.7–4.0 mm, Ha 2.9–3.6 mm, Wa 3.1–3.7 mm.
Description
SHELL. Large, with 8½–10 whorls, H/W ratio 2.55. The apical 2.4 whorls form the protoconch, which is smooth on only the initial 0.5 whorl; further on the whorls have fine, rather widely spaced riblets. The protoconch is relatively small, Dp/D4th 0.55. The shell is more or less light horn-brown, without spots. The teleoconch whorls are sculptured with whitish, rounded but thin ribs, which are uniform in height, spacing and shape; on the body whorl the ribs become more narrowly spaced and weaker while approaching the aperture. The aperture has a well-developed lip, which broadens at the columellar side before curving abruptly back, forming an acute angle and covering the umbilicus. The body whorl widens near the aperture.
FEMALE GENITALIA. Bursa copulatrix large, with a pedunculus connected proximally; its proximal lobe smaller than the distal one. Short seminal receptacle, without distal oviduct, confined to the ventral side of the body. Visceral oviduct nearly linear while running over the apex of the seminal receptacle. The junction of the uterine gland and the copulatory duct is far from the connection between the distal oviduct and the pedunculus of the bursa.
Distribution
This species lives on the Njeguši Plateau in Montenegro, where only two locations are known.
Habitat preference
Like the majority of known Cochlostoma, this is an obligate rock-dwelling species. Although it can be found at Popovo Cave together with its congener Cochlostoma (Auritus) auritum (Rossmässler, 1837), this is not syntopy in the strict sense, because there is a difference in their niches. Cochlostoma (A.) auritum lives on the exposed rock surface around the cave entrance, whereas C. (L.) erika is found in the twilight zone inside the cave. Though little is known about its ecological requirements, C. (L.) erika is supposedly bound partly to the epigean environment (i.e., subtroglophile in the sense of Sket 2008).
Remarks
In order to promote nomenclatural stability, a female specimen, which was illustrated in the original description by Wagner (1906: fig. 15a–b), is herein designated as the lectotype.
description: Published as part of Zallot, Enrico, Fehér, Zoltán, Bamberger, Sonja & Gittenberger, Edmund, 2018, Cochlostoma revised: the subgenus Lovcenia Zallot et al., 2015 (Caenogastropoda, Cochlostomatidae), pp. 1-25 in European Journal of Taxonomy 464 on pages 10-13, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2018.464, http://zenodo.org/record/1469475