Cuneopsis celtiosimilis Hou & Wu 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Hou, Kaiyu
name: Wang, Xianan
name: Nan, Fang
name: Wu, Ruiwen
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Bivalvia
Unionida
Unionidae
Cuneopsis
Cuneopsis celtiosimilis

description: Cuneopsis celtiosimilis Hou & Wu sp. nov.
Fig. 1 a; Suppl. material 2: fig. S 1
Type material.
Holotype (Fig. 1 a) • SXNU_24100210 (length 119.1 mm, height 45.19 mm, width 32.74 mm); Luoshan County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, China. Paratypes (Suppl. material 2: fig. S 1 a, c, d) • three specimens, SXNU_24082201, SXNU_24100211, and SXNU_24100212. Same collection location as the holotype.
Morphological diagnosis.
Shell long, wedge-shaped; the umbo situated at 1 / 6 of the shell length; the epidermis black-red; nacre blue-white; and the two pseudocardinal teeth on the left valve join together and form in a continuous strip (Fig. 1); right valve has one low, squashed, and irregular pseudocardinal tooth. The labial palps long elliptical (Fig. 2 a 1); the papillae of the incurrent aperture short, pyramidal shape, and arranged in two rows (Fig. 2 a 2); and the papillae at the edge of the excurrent aperture not prominent and tightly arranged in a row (Fig. 2 a 3).
Molecular diagnosis.
The phylogenetic tree indicates that the new species forms a distinct lineage, and it is closely related to Cuneopsis kiangsiensis (Fig. 3). The genetic distance between the new species and its congeneric species shows that the smallest distance is observed with Cuneopsis kiangsiensis (4.6 %) (Table 2).
Description.
Shell thick, strong, both valves unequal. Shell long, wedge-shaped, slightly thickened, slightly inflated; anterior margin convex prominently; ventral margin arc-shaped; umbo located at 1 / 6 of the shell length; periostracum black-red; shell surface sculptured with fine concentric growth lines (Fig. 1; Table 1). Anterior adductor muscle attachment deep and rough; posterior adductor muscle attachment shallow and smooth; nacre blue-white; mantle muscle attachment obvious. Hinge well developed; left valve has two pseudocardinal teeth; anterior tooth small, and posterior tooth thick, both pseudocardinal teeth connect together and arranged in continuous strip; right valve has only one low, squashed, and irregular pseudocardinal tooth; left valve has two lateral teeth, and both arranged in a paralleled straight line; right valve has one lateral tooth (Fig. 1; Table 1). Papillae in the incurrent aperture short, pyramidal shape, arranged in two rows; papillae in the excurrent aperture weakly developed, tightly arranged in one row; and the pigmentation of the incurrent and excurrent aperture significant; labial palps medium-thick, long elliptical (Fig. 2; Table 1).
Etymology.
This newly discovered species exhibits morphological similarities with Cuneopsis celtiformis, which led us to incorporate this resemblance into its naming. Specifically, we used the word ‘ celti’ (derived from ‘ celtiformis ’) with the middle ‘ o’ connected to the Latinized word ‘ similis’ (similar) to name this new species. For the common name, we recommend “ Similar Wedged Mussel ” (English) and “ Jin Si Xie Bang ” (近似楔蚌) (Chinese).
Distribution.
Shi River, a tributary of Huai River, Luoshan County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, China.
description: Published as part of Hou, Kaiyu, Wang, Xianan, Nan, Fang & Wu, Ruiwen, 2025, Underestimated diversity: A new species of the genus Cuneopsis (Bivalvia, Unionidae, Unioninae) from Henan, China, pp. 341-351 in Zoosystematics and Evolution 101 (1) on pages 341-351, DOI: 10.3897/zse.101.141439