Sicania nobilis (L. Pfeiffer, 1848), s. l., 2021

De Mattia, Willy, Reier, Susanne & Haring, Elisabeth, 2021, Morphological investigation of genital organs and first insights into the phylogeny of the genus Siciliaria Vest, 1867 as a basis for a taxonomic revision (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Clausiliidae), ZooKeys 1077, pp. 1-175 : 1

Sicania nobilis (L. Pfeiffer, 1848), s. l. comb. nov.

Remarks.

Sicania nobilis comb. nov. s. l. has a big, weakly striated shell, mostly decollate and whitish in colour. Sicania nobilis comb. nov. forms a well-supported clade in the COI tree. Even in the ITS2 tree almost all sequences cluster, except those of population 14 (SanVito Lo Capo, Torazza, 3 clones), which are found within the S. eminens + S. nobilis cluster. This might point towards hybridisation between those taxa. Such an assumption would deserve further investigation.

Sicania nobilis comb. nov. cannot be framed within a precise genital morphological outline. The anatomy of the genital organs of Sicania nobilis comb. nov. exhibits significant differences among the populations (albeit stable within a population), especially concerning the features of the internal sculpturing of V (smooth to transversal pleats), penis (smooth, with tubercles of fringed longitudinal pleats) and the shape of the penial pseudopapilla (small and roundish to big and elongate). As seen in the genital descriptions, also ratios among principal genital parts show great variability. Sicania nobilis spezialensis stat. nov. comb. nov. shows a further different genital outline (Fig. 35 .1-35.7) (e.g., the internal penis with robust smooth longitudinal pleats) that differs from all the Sicania nobilis s. l. dissected populations. Therefore, the morphology of the genital organs cannot serve as a specific diagnostic set of characters, except for Sicania spezialensis comb. nov., yet, from this taxon only one population was available.

Sicania nobilis comb. nov. s. l. is clearly differentiated from the remaining Sicania / Siciliaria taxa by shell morphology, especially the waxy whitish surface of the whorls and the arrangement of the plicae and lamellae, as repeatedly reported in literature with detailed descriptions and differential diagnoses ( Nordsieck 1984, 2002, 2013b; Beckmann 2004).

Figures

Figure. 35. Sicania nobilis spezialensis (Nordsieck 1984), stat. nov., comb. nov. Macari 35.1 whole distal genital organs 35.2 internal distal part of genital organs 35.3 whole distal genital organs. 35.4 internal distal part of genital organs 35.5 cross section of the pseudopapilla 35.6 cross section of the epiphallus 35.7 detail of the pseudopapilla.