Bosnidilhia vitojaensis Grego and Glöer, 2019

Grego, Jozef, Glöer, Peter, Falniowski, Andrzej, Hofman, Sebastian & Osikowski, Artur, 2019, New subterranean freshwater gastropod species from Montenegro (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Moitessieriidae, and Hydrobiidae), Ecologica Montenegrina 20 (2019), pp. 71-90 : 80-82

Bosnidilhia vitojaensis Grego and Glöer n. sp.

Bosnidilhia cf. vreloana Glöer, Grego, Erőss and Fehér, 2016

( Fig. 6 )

Type locality

Montenegro: Podgorica municipality, Hasanoj , Izvor Vitoja , near Skadar Lake close to Albanian border pass Božaj, 10 m a.s.l. , 42,325400° N; 19,362888° E.

Type material

Holotype: Type locality, leg. Erőss, Fehér, Grego 05.07.201 5 ( HNHM 103041 ) . Paratypes: ( HNHM 103041 /1, coll. Glöer /1, coll. Grego /6, ZPE/3) .

Measurements

Holotype: H 1.40 mm; W 0.59 mm; BH 0.76 mm; BW 0.48 mm; AH 0.45 mm; AW 0.42 mm.

Etymology

Named after type locality, the Vitoja spring in Podgorica municipality on the NE shore of Skadar Lake .

Description

Small (1.4 mm) fragile milky yellowish shell with four almost flat whorls with a weak suture and very blunt rounded apex. Shell surface smooth and silky. Umbilicus closed. Aperture irregular ovoid, separated from the body whorl by a tiny furrow along all the columellar side. Peristome margin blunt and very slightly reflected. Outer lip sinuous-straight and protruded from the body whorl in frontal view.

Differentiating features

This species can be distinguished from Bosnidilhia vreloana Boeters, Glöer & Pešić, 2013 ( Fig. 5 , Bosnia, Banja Luka) by its smaller shell (1.4 mm vs 1.9 mm), more cylindrical shell shape with blunter apex, proportionally smaller body whorl, and the different shape of the aperture, which is more expanded on its columellar aspect (Tab. 2).

Habitat

Vitoja Spring is located on the northeastern shore of the Skadar Lake in Montenegro, near the settlement Hasanoj and close to the Albanian border pass Božaj on E762 Rd. It is a large karstic spring zone adjacent to the shore and consists of one main spring flowing into two joined small spring lakes with several additional sublacustrine spring zones at their bottom. In addition, five side springs of variable outflows are located within 150 m west of the main spring. During high-water conditions the whole spring zone is absorbed by the elevated level of Skadar Lake, while during the summer dry season, some of the side springs are very small or intermittent. All springs emerge at the border of the limestone massif and the alluvium of Skadar Lake and are most likely supplied from sinkholes of Skoraĉ Polje at Kuĉke Planine and perhaps from ponors in the Cjievna River valley as well.

Distribution

Only known from the type locality, where it is found together with Plagigeyeria zetaprotogona Schütt, 1960 , Vinodolia matjasici (Bole, 1961) , Vinodolia scutarica (Radoman, 1973) , Lanzaia pesici Glöer, Grego, Erőss & Fehér, 2017 , Pyrgula annulata (Linnaeus, 1767) , Islamia montenegrina Glöer, Grego, Erőss & Fehér, 2017 and Bracenica vitojaensis Glöer, Grego, Erőss & Fehér, 2017 .

Remarks

The assignment of the new species to the genus Bosnidilhia is based only on similarities in shell morphology, and it remains provisional until the molecular data become available.

Figures

Figures 3-8. Discussed species of the genus Paladilhiopsis, Bosnidilhia, and Stygobium: 3–4 Paladilhiopsis cattaroensis n. sp. (Holotype HNHM 103039); 5 Bosnidilhia vreloana (Holotype ZMH 79663); 6 Bosnidilhia vitojaensis n. sp. (Holotype HNHM 103041); 7-8 Stygobium hercegnoviensis n. sp. (Holotype HNHM 103037) (photo´s: Peter Glöer, Jozef Grego)