Plagigeyeria steffeki, Grego, Jozef, Gloeer, Peter, Eross, Zoltan Peter & Feher, Zoltan, 2017

Grego, Jozef, Gloeer, Peter, Eross, Zoltan Peter & Feher, Zoltan, 2017, Six new subterranean freshwater gastropod species from northern Albania and some new records from Albania and Kosovo (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Moitessieriidae and Hydrobiidae), Subterranean Biology 23, pp. 85-107 : 92-93

Plagigeyeria steffeki sp. n. Figs 15-17

Plagigeyeria gladilini - Glöer et al. 2015: 80, figs 32-35.

Diagnosis.

Compared to the most closely related Plagigeyeria gladilini Kuščer, 1937 (Kosovo, Novosellë) (Figs 18-20), the new species differs by its more slender shape, blunter apex, less prominent protoconch and narrower umbilicus as well as by the broader and more reflexed peristome with a wing-like columellar expansion. The lateral shape of the outer lip has a different sinuation in the two species. From Plagigeyeria procerula Angelov, 1965 (Bulgaria, Opizvet), it differs by its much larger shell and blunter apex as well as by the much wider and differently shaped reflexed peristome.

Type

locality.

Albania, Has district, Krumë, Vrela Spring, 450 m, 42.1921°N; 20.4166°E (Fig. 2D)

Type

material.

Holotype: Type locality: leg. Erőss, Fehér, Grego, Szekeres, 20.06.2016 (HNHM 100174), Paratypes: same data (NHMW 111659/40, HNHM 100175/62. Also 1 specimens in coll. Glöer and 69 specimens in coll. Grego).

Other material.

Same locality, leg. Erőss, Fehér, Grego, 02.07.2015 (coll. Grego and coll. Eross).

Measurements.

Holotype H 2.8 mm; W 1.7mm; WB 1.1 mm; HA/H 0.47, HB/H 0.28. Paratypes H: 2.2-3.1 mm, W: 1.5-1.9 mm., WB: 1.0-1.2 mm.

Etymology.

Named after our untimely deceased excellent friend Jozef Šteffek ( Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia) whose multidisciplinary activities dominated in the fields of malacozoology, ecosozology and zoogeography of the Slovakian mollusc fauna.

Description.

The milky whitish, translucent shell has 4 convex whorls with a deep suture. The surface is smooth with fine axial growth lines. The shell is narrow-conical. The aperture is oval; the peristome expands widely outwards forming a wing-like structure at the columellar peristome. The lateral edge of the labrum is sinuated, and a characteristic sinuation is present on the wing shaped lower half of its columellar margin. The umbilicus is tiny, hidden behind the aperture and its reflected margins.

Habitat.

See P. falniowskii sp. n.

Distribution.

Only known from the type locality. Within the type locality the new species was found together with the subterranean Paladilhiopsis falniowskii sp. n. and Paladilhiopsis szarowskae .

Remarks.

The first specimens of the new species were collected in 2015 and were erroneously reported as P. gladilini ( Glöer et al. 2015). Since then, we collected further individuals from the Krumë population and obtained topotypical P. gladilini material at the White Drin Spring (Burimi i Drinit të Bardhë or Beli Drin Izvor, Fig. 2E). Having these samples in hand made us conclude that P. steffeki is a distinct species, quite separable from P. gladilini .

Plagigeyeria steffeki sp. n. together with P. gladilini from Kosovo ( Kuščer 1937) and P. procerula from Bulgaria ( Angelov 1965), belong to a morphologically distinct group within the genus Plagigeyeria which is also geographically isolated from the other species of the genus. It would not be surprising if further molecular studies confirmed their separation at the genus level.