Pyrgulopsis lindae Hershler, Liu, Babbitt, Kellogg & Howard

Hershler, Robert, Liu, Hsiu-Ping, Babbitt, Caitlin, Kellogg, Michael G. & Howard, Jeanette K., 2016, Three new species of western California springsnails previously confused with Pyrgulopsisstearnsiana (Caenogastropoda, Hydrobiidae), ZooKeys 601, pp. 1-19 : 5-6

Taxon classification Animalia Littorinimorpha Hydrobiidae

Pyrgulopsis lindae Hershler, Liu, Babbitt, Kellogg & Howard sp. n. Figs 3A, 4

Pyrgulopsis stearnsiana .- Hershler and Liu 2010 (in part).

Types.

Holotype, USNM 905258, San Domingo Creek, 3.8 km up flow from Dogtown along San Domingo Road, Calaveras County, California, 38.14122°N, 120.53920°W, 6/26/2000, R. Hershler. Paratypes, * USNM 1254709 (one dry shell and six alcohol-preserved specimens), from same lot.

Referred material.

California. Calaveras County: ANSP 158719, Santo Domingo (probably San Domingo) Creek Valley, N (north) of Murphys, no coordinates available, 9/11/1929. Tuolumne County: BellMNH 20821, Salvada Gulch (37.87062°N, 120.41987°W), 11/9/1966.

Diagnosis.

A medium-sized congener (maximum shell height, 3.3 mm) having an ovate-conic shell. Distinguished from other regional species in having a penial gland along the outer edge of the filament. Further differentiated from Pyrgulopsis stearnsiana in having a ventral gland on the penis, and a larger penial lobe and terminal gland.

Description.

Shell (Fig. 4 A–B, Table 3) ovate-conic, spire slightly longer than shell width in largest specimens, whorls 4.00-4.75. Teleoconch whorls medium convex, sometimes weakly shouldered. Aperture ovate, slightly angled above; parietal lip complete, nearly straight, narrowly disjunct, thin or slightly thickened; umbilicus absent or very small. Outer lip thin, orthocline. Teleoconch whorls sculptured with numerous irregular spiral striae.

Operculum (Fig. 4 C–D) as for genus; muscle attachment margin thickened on inner side. Radula (Fig. 4 E–G) as for genus; dorsal edge of central teeth concave, lateral cusps three–four, basal cusp one. Lateral teeth having two cusps on inner and three cusps on outer side. Inner marginal teeth with 15-20 cusps, outer marginal teeth with 22-28 cusps. Radula data are from BellMNH 20821.

Penis (Fig. 3A) medium-sized; filament darkly pigmented, medium length, narrow, tapering; lobe medium-sized, rectangular, slightly oblique; penial gland narrow, positioned along outer edge of filament basally; terminal gland narrow, curved, overlapping both dorsal and ventral sides of lobe; ventral gland small, narrow, curved, borne on short stalk near base of lobe. Penial data are from USNM 905259 (5 specimens), BellMNH 20821 (3 specimens).

Etymology.

This species is named for Linda Lee Crisostomo who provided invaluable field assistance and logistical support for this project. We propose that "San Domingo pyrg" be used as the common name for this species.

Distribution and habitat.

Pyrgulopsis lindae is known from three geographically proximate localities in the upper Calaveras and upper Tuolumne River basins. The type locality is a moderate-size stream of about one meter depth; specimens were found on emergent macrophytes near the banks. The second locality in San Domingo Valley is an old record (1929) based on dry shells. The place name for the third locality, "Salvada Gulch," is no longer in use, but is shown on older maps (e.g., USGS Chinese Camp 15-minute quadrangle [1948]) as being located just to the east of Chinese Camp near the western edge of Don Pedro Reservoir. The geographic coordinates given on the original labels for the Salvada Gulch sample (BellMNH 2081) suggest that the collecting locality was the small stream just to the south of Shawmut Road.

Conservation status.

Pyrgulopsis lindae was found only rarely in San Domingo Creek in 2000; when re-visited in 2015 the creek consisted of a few pools separated by long, dry reaches; we were unable to sample these habitats as they were on fenced (private) land. The Salvada Gulch population has not been surveyed since it was first collected in 1966.