Caucasopsis Grego & Mumladze, 2020

Grego, Jozef, Mumladze, Levan, Falniowski, Andrzej, Osikowski, Artur, Rysiewska, Aleksandra, Palatov, Dimitry M. & Hofman, Sebastian, 2020, Revealing the stygobiotic and crenobiotic molluscan biodiversity hotspot in Caucasus: Part I. The phylogeny of stygobiotic Sadlerianinae Szarowska, 2006 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Hydrobiidae) from Georgia with descriptions of five new genera and twenty-one new species, ZooKeys 955, pp. 1-77 : 1

Genus Caucasopsis Grego & Mumladze gen. nov.

Type species.

Caucasopsis letsurtsume Grego & Mumladze, sp. nov.

Species assigned to the genus.

Paladilhiopsis shadini Starobogatov, 1962, Paldilhiopsis subovata Starobogatov, 1962; Paladilhiopsis pulcherrima Starobogatov, 1962; Paladilhiopsis orientalis Starobogatov, 1962 Paladilhiopsis schakuranica Starobogatov, 1962; Paladilhopsis aculeus Starobogatov, 1962; Caucasopsis letsurtsume Grego & Mumladze, sp. nov., Caucasopsis olsavskyi Grego & Mumladze, sp. nov., Caucasopsis egrisi Grego & Mumladze, sp. nov.

Diagnosis.

The new genus has a shell shape similar to members of the genus Imeretiopsis gen. nov. from more eastern localities of the Imereti region, which have, in contrast, a sinuated labral lateral profile. However, both genera can be clearly distinguished by their penes (Fig. 11A, B ): the penis is long, with the filament (lacking in Imeretiopsis ) and, below the filament, delicately marked outgrowth on the left side (in Imeretiopsis there are two broad outgrowths).

Etymology.

The name derived from the prefix Caucas - referring to the distribution range in the Caucasus Mountains and suffix - opsis reminiscent of the previously applied genus Paladilhiopsis Pavlović, 1913, adopted by Starobogatov (1962) for the similar shelled species from Abkhazia and from the Sochi region (Russia). Its gender is feminine.

Distribution.

The new genus Caucasopsis is known from the Samegrelo region, and likely from the Abkhazia and Sochi regions in the Russian Federation (Fig. 10 ).

Figures

Figure 10. Distribution map of Imeretiopsis gen. nov.: (magenta dots) and Caucasopsis gen. nov. (blue dots) 6 I. cameroni sp. nov. and I. iazoni sp. nov. 7 Imeretiopsis prometheus sp. nov. 8 I. nakeralaensis sp. nov. 9 I. gorgoleti sp. nov. 0 Caucasopsis orientalis (Starobogatov, 1962), C. subovata (Starobogatov, 1962) and C. pulcherrima (Starobogatov, 1962) 3 C. shadini (Starobogatov, 1962) 4 C. aculeus (Starobogatov, 1962) and C. schakuranica (Starobogatov, 1962) 22, 23 C. egrisi sp. nov. 24 C. olsavskyi sp. nov. 25, 30, 31 C. letsurtsume sp. nov.

Figure 11. Morphology of the penis A, B Caucasopsis letsurtsume sp. nov., Samegrelo: A ventrally B dorsally C Imeretiopsis gorgoleti sp. nov. Photograph A. Falniowski and A. Rysiewska.