Austrochloritis speculoris Shea & Griffiths, 2010

Shea, Michael & Köhler, Frank, 2019, Towards a Systematic Revision of the Eastern Australian Land Snail Austrochloritis Pilsbry, 1891 (Eupulmonata, Camaenidae): Re-description of its Type Species, A. porteri (Cox, 1866), Records of the Australian Museum 71 (4), pp. 111-120 : 118-119

Austrochloritis speculoris Shea & Griffiths, 2010

Austrochloritis speculoris Shea & Griffiths, 2010 (in Stanisic et al. 2010): 384, 536.

Material examined

Type material. Holotype QM MO27314 (from NE New South Wales, New England NP, Point Lookout region, 31°22'50"S 152°15'25"E [leg. D. & N. Potter, 8 Mar 1990, under logs]) . Paratypes AM C.378010 (Gladstone SF, Reids Ck Rd at Moodys Ck crossing , 3.3 km from Kalang Rd, 30°28'52"S 152°50'21"E) , AM C.339822 ( Forest Way , 14.5 km SW Pt Lookout Rd, 30°34'23"S 152°14'24"E) , AM C.339819 ( Styx River , ca. 79 km E Armidale, nr Pt Lookout, 30°30'36"S 152°22'E) .

Non-type material. NEW SOUTH WALES: New England NP, Point Lookout , 30°29'23"S 152°24'28"E ( AM C.108470 ); Point Lookout, Platypus Valley Lookout track , 30°29'20"S 152°24'35"E ( AM C.575464 ); New England NP, near Point Lookout, 30°29'36"S 152°24'23"E ( AM C.108368 ); Oakes SF, Robinsons Knob Trail , nr Spring Ck, 30°33'S 152°28'23"E ( AM C.337911 ); E of Armidale, W of Ebor, 6.6 km NW of Guy Fawkes intersection, Sandy Ck , 500m W of sand pit turnoff, 30°23'48"S 152°17'30"E ( AM C.108452 ); E of Armidale, 750 m S of Lightning Knob , 30°30'55"S 152°10'44"E ( AM C.108381 ); Cathedral Rock NP, northern boundary, 1 km W of Sandy Creek crossing, W of Ebor , Ebor-Guyra Rd , 30°23'35"S 152°16'33"E ( AM C.575456 ); E of Armidale, E of Jeogla, 800m N of Forest Way on Jacks Fire Rd , 30°34'51"S 152°14'46"E ( AM C.108365 ); Waterfall Way , 1 km S of junction with Guyra Road,W of Ebor, 30°26'31"S 152°18'58"E ( AM C.561044 ); Oxley Wild Rivers NP, Youdales , 31°4'19"S 152°15'17"E ( AM C.506320 ); Styx SF, Raspberry Rd , Halls Peak Rd crossing, 30°45'18"S 152°2'35"E ( AM C.506286 ); 63 km ESE of Armidale, N of Raspberry Mt, 800m down Raspberry Rd, 30°37'17"S 152°10'30"E ( AM C.339820 ); 63 km ESE Armidale, 15.2 km down Raspberry Rd, 30°40'47"S 152°08'E ( AM C.339821 ) .

Description

Shell ( Fig 1 D–E, Fig. 5 ). Medium sized (D = 12–16.5 (average 14.3) mm, H = 8.5–12 (average 10.0) mm, for n = 18 lots), turbinate in shape with moderately raised spire, with on average 4.25 rounded whorls that weakly increase in diameter, sutures moderately impressed, protoconch sculpture of scattered pustules and rugose pustulose radial ridges, teleoconch sculpture of irregular growth lines with microsculpture of crowded pustules, periostracal sculpture of crowded curved setae, microsculpture of wavy periostracal ridgelets; end of last whorl descending below whorl plane, aperture moderately tilted from axis of coiling, with moderately thickened and reflected white to dark red-brown outer lip, columella slope about 45°; umbilicus narrow, partially covered by reflected columella, V-shaped in profile; shell colour from pale yellowish brown to dark reddish brown, with or without a narrow reddish brown spiral band around the whorl periphery.

External anatomy. Animal head-foot dark grey-brown; with retractable head at inner bases of ocular tentacles.

Reproductive anatomy ( Fig. 6 ). Penis cylindrical, about as long as vagina, no penial sheath, inner penial wall with corrugated interlocking short longitudinal pilasters, distally giving rise to longitudinal rows of elongate strap-like pilasters; epiphallus cylindrical, about 3 times as long as penis, distal part with short epiphallic flagellum, epiphallus opening into penial lumen through narrow, pointed and finger-like, longitudinally grooved, penial verge, about half as long as penis, opening laterally; penial retractor attached to proximal third of epiphallus; vas deferens entering head of epiphallus through a single pore just below base of epiphallic flagellum; vagina cylindrical, as long as penis, inner wall with very prominent longitudinal anastomising pilasters, usually thickened around vaginal entrance; free oviduct short; bursa copulatrix long and thin and looped or folded several times, twice as long or more than oviduct length, with inflated bulb-like head, aligning with base of albumen gland; hermaphroditic duct inserting into head of talon.

Comparative remarks

Both species cannot be confidently distinguished by their shell, which is on average smaller in A. speculoris , but exhibits very similar characteristics otherwise. However, both species differ in some reproductive characters, such as length of the bursa copulatrix relative to length of spermoviduct (longer in A. speculoris ), relative length of penis (about equal to vagina in A. porteri , but longer in A. speculoris ), length of epiphallus relative to penis (longer in A. porteri ), position of the penial retractor muscle (at proximal third of epiphallus in A. porteri , mid-epiphallus in A. speculoris ), and relative length of the penial verge (half as long as penis in A. porteri ), and the length of the epiphallic flagellum (much longer in A. porteri ).

Distribution and ecology

Lives in dry to moist sclerophyll forests on the eastern edge of the New England Plateau and escarpment from Gladstone State Forest in the east to the upper Guy Fawkes River drainage north of Ebor and Point Lookout areas in the north to Youdales, Oxley Wild Rivers NP in the south ( Fig. 2 ). Mainly found at altitudes over 900 meters on granitic or basaltic bedrock. Generally found under logs, rocks and shed bark around base of trees.

Figures

Figure 1. Shells (front, top, and umbilical view). (A–C) Austrochloritis porteri: (A) neotype of Helix porteriAM C.24556 (NSW, Upper Richmond River); (B) AM C.575455 (NSW, Mt Warning); (C) AM C.512605 (Queensland, Lamington NP). (D–E) Austrochloritis speculoris: (D) AM C.575464 (NSW, Point Lookout); (E) AM C.575456 (NSW, Cathedral Rock NP). Scale bar = 10 mm.

Figure 2. Occurrence records of Austrochloritis porteri (blue dots) and A. speculoris (red dots) from the malacological collection of theAM.Legend:blue triangle—type locality of A. porteri based on neotypeAM C.24556, red triangle—type location of A. speculoris, original type locality of Helix porteri: 1—Guy Fawkes Station near Ebor; 2—Cowlong. Source of base map: Google Maps.

Figure 5. Scanning electron micrographs of shells of Austrochloritis speculoris showing protoconch (left) and detail of teleoconch sculpture (right): (A–B)AM C.343464 (NSW, Ebor–Guyra Rd); (C–D)AM C.575456 (NSW, Ebor–Guyra Rd). Scale bars = 0.2 or 0.5 mm.

Figure 6. Reproductive anatomy of Austrochloritis speculoris. (A–B) Drawings showing the entire reproductive system:(A)AM C.575464 (NSW, Point Lookout); (B) AM C.575456 (NSW, Ebor–Guyra Rd). (D–F) Details of penial anatomy: (C) AM C.575464 (NSW, Point Lookout); (D) AM C.575456 (NSW, Ebor–Guyra Rd). Scale bars = 5 mm. Abbreviations: ag—albumen gland; at—atrium; bc—bursa copulatirx; ep—epiphallus; fl—epiphallic flagellum; hd—hermaphroditic duct; ipw—inner penial wall; p—penis; pm—penial retractor; pv—penial verge; va—vagina; vd—vas deferens.