Sicania nobilis nobilis (L. Pfeiffer, 1848) nobilis (L. Pfeiffer, 1848

De Mattia, Willy, Reier, Susanne & Haring, Elisabeth, 2021, Morphological investigation of genital organs and first insights into the phylogeny of the genus Siciliaria Vest, 1867 as a basis for a taxonomic revision (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Clausiliidae), ZooKeys 1077, pp. 1-175 : 1

Sicania nobilis nobilis (L. Pfeiffer, 1848) comb. nov.

Figs 1.F, 34.1-34.8, 36.1-36.13, 39.5-39.7

Clausilia nobilis L. Pfeiffer 1848: 434.

Clausilia sicula Benoit 1876: 151.

Siciliaria (Siciliaria) nobilis episoma Brandt 1961: 7.

Siciliaria (Siciliaria) nobilis - Manganelli et al. 1995: 25.

Siciliaria (Siciliaria) nobilis (= Siciliaria episoma ) - Manganelli et al. 1995: 25.

Charpentieria nobilis - Beckmann 2004: 188.

Siciliaria nobilis - Welter-Schultes 2012: 341.

Siciliaria nobilis - Nordsieck 2013b: 8.

Charpentieria nobilis - De Mattia 2017i.

Specimens examined.

Italy, Sicily, Castelluzzo, Monte Cofano E of Tonnara di Monte Cofano, 80 m asl, 38°06'22.04"N, 12°40'59.77"E, W. De Mattia and J. Macor leg., 19.xii.2007. 2 dissected spm. I.D. 7 . Italy, Sicily, San Vito lo Capo, Castelluzzo , west cliffs E of town, 120 m asl, 38°06'25.71"N, 12°44'33.37"E, [Lab ID 60_1, COI: MW758906 , ITS2: MW757065, MW757066, MW757067, MW757139 ; Lab ID 60_2, COI: MW758907 ; Lab ID 60_4, COI: MW758938 ; Lab ID 60_5, COI: MW758939 ], W. De Mattia and J. Macor leg., 14.iv.2017. 2 dissected spm . Italy, Sicily, San Vito lo Capo , cliffs S of “El-Bahira” camping, 60 m asl, 38°08'48.81"N, 12°44'6.61"E, [Lab ID 62_2, COI: MW758914 ; Lab ID 62_3, COIMW758940], W. De Mattia and J. Macor leg., 14.iv.2017. 2 dissected spm . Italy, Sicily, San Vito lo Capo, Torre delle Usciere , 5 m asl, 38°10'30.07"N, 12°46'14.09"E, [Lab ID 18_1, COI: MW758918 , ITS2: MW757106, MW757107 ], W. De Mattia and J. Macor leg., 19.xii.2007. 2 dissected spm. " Charpentieria episoma " Italy, Sicily, San Vito lo Capo , boulders W of the town, 50 m asl, 38°10'51.85"N, 12°43'37.70"E, [Lab ID 14_1, COI: MW758875 , ITS2: MW757128, MW757129, MW757130 ], W. De Mattia and J. Macor leg., 19.xii.2007. 2 dissected spm .

Shell

(Figs 36 .1-36.13, 39.5-39.7). Shell decollate; with well-developed whitish surface layer; whorls mostly weakly rib-striated, with sutural papillae; dorsal keel missing; inferior lamella moderately high or high; anterior upper palatal plica present, mostly separated from the lunella; ALPP tending to be shortened, posterior lower palatal plica more or less reduced; palatal edge of clausilium plate distally not receding, palatal edge distally somewhat or not bent upwards.

Measurements

(n = 45, decollate). shell height 22.9 ± 1.6, whorl width 5.0 ± 0.2, aperture height 4.8 ± 0.3, aperture width 3.6 ± 0.4.

External morphology of the genital organs

(Figs 34 .1, 34.3, 34.5, 34.7). The FO is much longer than the V (FO/V range 1.9-3.4). The VD is thin along its whole course. The FDBC is slightly shorter or longer than the BC+SDBC (FDBC/BC+SDBC range 0.9-2.1). The BC+SDBC is club-like to cylindrical and longer than the V (BC+SDBC/V range 1.4-3.1), with no distinction between the SDBC and the BC. The apex is big and round. The D is longer than the V (D/V range 2.1-3.3) and longer that the BC+SDBC (D/BC+SDBC range 1.3-2.0), thinner than the BC+SDBC and with a small but round apex. The V is short, cylindrical and large in diameter. The A is very large. The PC is much longer than the V (P+E/V range 1.8-3.7). The PR is very short and robust. The ET is always present. The E is slightly longer than the P (E/P range 1.2-1.6), very gradually shrinking and turning into the VD.

Internal morphology of the genital organs

(Figs 34 .2, 34.4, 34.6, 34.8). The A is smooth or shows weak large longitudinal pleats. The V shows a variable pattern of sculpturing: from smooth to an irregular pattern of small pleats. The P also presents a variable pattern of sculpturing: totally smooth or with coarse and irregular big tubercles, or one or two longitudinal remarkably segmented pleats. The PP can be either big, elongated with a rounded or pointed apex or small, short, round and totally smooth. The P-E transition presents two different structures. The samples from Cofano (7), San Vito (14) and Torre Usciere (18) present a first distal and a second median ER while both the PP and ELP originates from a third proximal ER. The epiphallar formula is: 1ER+2ER+3ER(PP+ELP). The samples from Castelluzzo (60) and San Vito cliffs (62) present a simpler ephiphallar thickening structure, namely a first distal ER and the PP originates from the second proximal ER. The ELP are not connected to the second proximal ER. The epiphallar formula is: 1ER+2ER(PP)+ELP. The E shows two main longitudinal smooth or fringed pleats that distally fades out or abruptly ends before the VD. These pleats originate from the merging of 3-7 Clausilia minor distal pleats. The V is smooth.

Ecology.

Sicania nobilis nobilis comb. nov. is a strictly limestone dweller and inhabits cliffs and big isolated boulders, hiding among rock cracks and crevices. It is found both in dry, sun exposed cliffs (i.e., San Vito lo Capo, cliffs S of ”El-Bahira“ camping) or shady walls under dense tree cover (San Vito lo Capo, Castelluzzo, west cliffs E of town). According to De Mattia (2017i) Sicania nobilis nobilis comb. nov. is considered Endangered following the IUCN criteria B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v).

Distribution.

Sicania nobilis nobilis comb. nov. is known to occur in two limestone massifs: Monte Cofano and in San Vito lo Capo Peninsula, from Monte Acci to Monte Monaco.

Remarks.

Siciliaria nobilis episoma hwas described by Brandt (1961: 7) from "Barbello bei San Vito" by its smaller dimensions, opaque (glanzlose) and markedly striated (scharf rippenstreifigen) shell. Although we were unable to find the locality named Barbello, the description of this taxon corresponds to a population known to inhabit the area east of San Vito lo Capo at Torre dell’Usciere, on limestone cliffs few meters from the shoreline. In the mt tree, this population is positioned within the Sicania nobilis clade (Figs 4 - 6 ) its COI sequence almost identical to that of an individual from San Vito (ID 14_1). The distinctive shell characters provided by Brandt (1961) reveal to be weak and not reliable to justify the introduction of a new subspecific name. The “opaque” and the "markedly striated" shell surface seems to be a common character of Sicania nobilis comb. nov. (see Figs 36 .1. 36.4, 36.7 and 36.10, 36.13), as well as the shell’s dimensions that fall inside the variability of Sicania nobilis nobilis comb. nov. Moreover, also regarding the morphology of its genital organs, Sicania nobilis " Sicania episoma " does not show any substantial difference from the nominate subspecies. We therefore support the opinion of Nordsieck (2007: 54) that the name " Sicania episoma " should be deemed as a junior synonym of S. nobilis nobilis comb. nov.

Figures

Figure 1. Wagner's (1913, 1925) and Brandt's (1961) Siciliaria genital drawings A Siciliaria septemplicata, Wagner, 1913: plate 572, fig. 14 B Siciliaria grohmanniana grohmanniana, Wagner, 1925: plate 1, fig. 8 C Siciliaria calcarae calcarae, 1925: plate 3, fig. 25 D Siciliaria ferrox, Brandt, 1961: fig. 1 E overall Siciliaria / Sicania and Sicilian Mauritanica distribution F Siciliaria / Sicania and Sicilian Mauritanica distribution of taxa.

Figure 4. BI tree of based on the COI data set of Siciliaria, Sicania and related genera. BI posterior probability values (> 0.90) of major nodes are indicated.

Figure 6. BI tree of based on the concatenated COI and ITS 2 data set of Siciliaria, Sicania and related genera. Colours of Siciliaria and Sicania clades correspond to those in the distribution maps (Fig. 1 E, F). BI posterior probability values (> 0.90) of major nodes are indicated.

Figure 34. Sicania nobilis nobilis (A. Schmidt, 1868), comb. nov., Castelluzzo 34.1 whole distal genital organs 34.2 internal distal part of genital organs. San Vito Lo capo, camping 34.3 whole distal genital organs 34.4 internal distal part of genital organs. San Vito Lo Capo, boulders 34.5 whole distal genital organs 34.6 internal distal part of genital organs. Torre delle Usciere (ex. forma Sicania nobilis nobilis episoma) 34.7 whole distal genital organs 34.8 internal distal part of genital organs.

Figure 36. Sicania nobilis nobilis (A. Schmidt, 1868), comb. nov., Castelluzzo 36.1 shell 36.2 detail of the aperture 36.3 clausiliar plate double side. San Vito Lo capo, camping 36.4 shell 36.5 detail of the aperture 36.6 clausiliar plate double side. San Vito Lo Capo, boulders 36.7 shell 36.8 detail of the aperture 36.9 clausiliar plate double side. Torre delle Usciere (ex. forma Sicania nobilis nobilis episoma) 36.10 shell 36.11 detail of the aperture 36.12 clausiliar plate double side. Monte Cofano, Tonnara Cofano 36.13 shell. Sicania nobilis spezialensis (Nordsieck 1984), stat. nov., comb. nov. Macari 36.14 shell 36.15 detail of the aperture 36.16 clausiliar plate double side.