Japonia Gould, 1859

Vermeulen, Jaap J., Liew, Thor-Seng & Schilthuizen, Menno, 2015, Additions to the knowledge of the land snails of Sabah (Malaysia, Borneo), including 48 new species, ZooKeys 531, pp. 1-139 : 18

Taxon classification Animalia Architaenioglossa Cyclophoridae

Genus Japonia Gould, 1859

Japonia Gould, 1859: 426.

Diagnosis for the Sabah species.

Shell small, white to pale corneous or pale greenish, usually marked with brown. Surface dull or shiny. Spire low to high-conical. Radial sculpture usually consisting of growth lines, locally grading into riblets. Spiral sculpture usually consisting of inconspicuous to distinct threads, sometimes with a peripheral keel. Peristome simple or double, expanded or not, with a notch in the angular corner. Height 4-12 mm. Umbilicus narrow to wide.

Cross diagnosis.

The genus Leptopoma Pfeiffer, 1847 (Borneo species revised by Vermeulen 1999), is most similar. Japonia is distinguished by the presence of a small notch in the angular corner of the peristome.

Remarks.

The Borneo species, numbering about 25, have not yet been revised. Nonetheless, we feel confident to describe one, highly distinctive, new species.