Cochlostoma (Clessiniella) villae (Strobel, 1851)

Figs 1, 3C, 14D, 15D, 16D, 17–21

Pomatias maculatum var. villae Strobel, 1851: 17 (“Mizzole presso Verona”).

Pomatias maculatum var. villae De Betta & Martinati, 1855: 74 (“Prov. Verona, Mizzole”).

Cochlostoma (Auritus) villae – Alzona 1971: 22.

Cochlostoma villae − Welter-Schultes 2012: 102.

Diagnosis

The last whorl, approaching the aperture, hardly enlarges (Fig. 4A: FF). Very prominent and widely spaced teleoconch ribs, barely inclined in respect to the vertical axis. Spots almost always visible. The protoconch is relatively small. The apertural lip poorly developed. Visceral oviduct with convoluted loops; thin seminal receptacle. Straight body spermiduct.

Type material

Syntypes

ITALY • 1 ♀; “ Pomatias villae Spinel. Mizzole. Villa 49” [label of the original material] [Veneto, Verona, Mizzole] [thus, it could be interpreted as collected in 1849 by Villa]; PU1610-C1 (Fig. 19) • 2 ♂♂; same label data as for preceding; PU1610-C2, PU1610-C3 (Fig. 20).

Other material (fresh specimens from the type locality have also been analyzed)

ITALY • Altissimo; 45.61511° N, 11.25225° E; 2009; Zallot leg.; EZ0883 • Arqua’ Petrarca, surroundings; 45.26194° N, 11.69623° E; 1999; Zallot leg.; EZ0895 • Bolca; 45.59389° N, 11.20972° E; 2010; Zallot leg.; EZ0882 • Ca’Gottolo; 45.58921° N, 10.90787° E; Jun. 2010; Scarlassara leg.; EZ1015 • Cornedo Vicentino-Cereda; 45.60667° N, 11.36833° E; 1999; Zallot leg.; EZ0887 • Covoli di Velo; 45.60889° N, 11.12083° E; 2010; Zallot leg.; EZ0879 • Ferrazza; 45.62137° N, 11.19538° E; Apr. 2010; Zallot leg.; EZ0881 • Fumane-Molina; 45.56942° N, 10.89856° E; Jun. 2010; Scarlassara leg.; EZ0936 • Lago di Fimon; 45.46972° N, 11.54° E; 2009; Zallot leg.; EZ0892 • Lumignano; 45.45607° N, 11.57914° E; 2010; Zallot leg.; EZ0893 • Mizzole; 45.48662° N, 11.05524° E; Apr. 2010; Zallot leg.; EZ0878 • Monte delle Piume; 45.35477° N, 11.45641° E; May 2010; G. Zallot leg.; EZ0889 • Mt Rusta; 45.28735° N, 11.68563° E; 2002; Zallot leg.; EZ0894 • Novale-Valdagno; 45.66528° N, 11.29528° E; 2000; Zallot leg.; EZ0884 • Perarolo dei Monti Berici, 45.47694° N, 11.50056° E; 1999, Zallot leg.; EZ0891 • Priabona; 45.63389° N, 11.37417° E; 2000; Zallot leg.; EZ0888 • San Giovanni di Zovencedo; 45.42833° N, 11.49417° E; 1999; Zallot leg.; EZ0890 • Tregnago-Finetti; 45.52866° N, 11.1806° E; 2005; Zallot leg.; EZ0880 • Valdagno; 45.64991° N, 11.30079° E; 2000; Zallot leg.; EZ0885 .

Description

SHELL. The teleoconch whorls have whitish, very prominent, rather straight and widely spaced ribs on the upper whorls (see Fig. 11), but smooth specimens are found occasionally (see https://www.naturamediterraneo.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=43816).

LIP. Moderately developed, and more or less flattened by the internal callus of the aperture. It gently curves backwards at the columellar side, starting rather far from the upper part of the body whorl. On lateral view, the body whorl, approaching the aperture, in most of the specimens barely enlarging (Fig. 4A: FF, Table 3).

FEMALE GENITALIA. There is a long and relatively thin (as compared to the other species of Clessiniella; see Table 5) seminal receptacle with a curved apex.

MALE GENITALIA. The penis is long and inflated. The penial spermiduct is slightly twisted and occupies only the central part of the penis. There is a clearly protruding but straight body spermiduct.

Distribution

The species inhabits a relatively small area at the foothills of the eastern Alps. It can also be found on the hills stretching down the Venetian flatland of the “pianura Veneta” (Colli Berici and Colli Euganei). It has been found sympatric with Cochlostoma (Cochlostoma) septemspirale and Cochlostoma (Eupomatias) philippianum in some localities of the province of Verona (Fernando Scarlassara, personal communication).

Habitat preference

The snails are found on rocky cliffs as well as on smaller boulders and dry stone walls in woody places.

Remarks

The range of this species is far from the almost continuous area in the east where the other Clessiniella species are known from. The species has been reported (and still is in the checklist of the Italian fauna – www.faunaitalia.it) as Cochlostoma villae (De Betta & Martinati, 1855) but Bank (1988) found that Strobel (1851) described it as Pomatias maculatum var. villae Spinelli, four years before De Betta & Martinati (1855). The description provided by Strobel (1851) is poor: “Varieta’ generalmente maggiore, coi giri della spira piu’ gonfi e colle coste trasversali piu’ regolari, e saglienti” = “ variety generally bigger, with more rounded whorls and more regular and strong ribs” and follows “ P. Villae Spinelli in esemplari raccolti a Mizzole presso Verona.” = “ P. villae Spinelli on specimens collected in Mizzole near Verona.”

A few years later, De Betta & Martinati (1855) gave almost the same poor description: “c. elongatior, costulis anfract. super. distinctioribus” = “taller shell, ribs in the upper whorls spaced” and follows “ Prov. Verona, Mizzole. Spin. ex spec. ” = “Verona Province, Mizzole, specimens provided by Spinelli.”

It could be, as was common at the time, that the specimens used to describe the species by both Strobel (1851) and De Betta & Martinati (1855) have had a tortuous path, after being collected by Villa in 1849 (as it appears from Strobel’s label), given to Spinelli later on, who gave the collector’s name to the species (as far as is known, however, Giovanni Battista Spinelli never published the specific epithet villae, probably using the name only in private correspondence). Spinelli eventually gave part of the material to Strobel and part to De Betta (the De Betta material is currently kept at the Museo di Storia Naturale di Verona, see Fig. 21).