Kaliella sublaxa Vermeulen, Liew & Schilthuizen

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 : 70-73

Taxon classification Animalia Stylommatophora Euconulidae

Kaliella sublaxa Vermeulen, Liew & Schilthuizen sp. n. Figure 61

Holotype. Malaysia, Sabah, West Coast Province , Crocker Range N.P. , km 54 marker on the road Kota Kinabalu-Tambunan , Gunung Mas ( RMNH.5003923 ).

Examined material from Sabah.

Interior Province. Gunung Trusmadi slopes, Gua Loloposon (leg. J.J. Vermeulen, V 13259). West Coast Province. Crocker Range N.P., km 54 marker on the road Kota Kinabalu-Tambunan, Gunung Mas (leg. M. Schilthuizen, J.J.M. van Alphen & J. van Alphen, V 13493).

Description.

Shell small, very thin, somewhat translucent, pale yellowish-brown, somewhat depressed-conical with flat or slightly concave sides; apex rounded. Surface shiny. Whorls moderately convex, last whorl slightly angular, rounded above and below the periphery. Protoconch whorls rather flat, with numerous fine, densely placed radial riblets; spiral sculpture virtually absent. Teleoconch: Last whorl with a thin peripheral spiral thread coinciding with the suture of the penultimate whorl, above and below this numerous fine, densely and regularly placed, continuous spiral grooves. Radial sculpture: above the periphery with a few growth lines, next to these fine, densely and regularly placed (about as dense and as strong as the spiral grooves) riblets; below the periphery with similar but less distinct radial sculpture. Umbilicus closed. Dimensions: Height up to 3.5 mm; width up to 4.1 mm; diameters of the first four whorls 0.7-0.8 mm, 1.35-1. 50 mm, 2.40-2.65 mm, c. 3.9 mm respectively; number of whorls up to c. 4; height aperture up to 2.2 mm; width aperture up to 2.4 mm.

Habitat in Sabah and distribution.

Primary and secondary forest on limestone and sandstone soil. Alt. 900-1700 m. Sabah: Crocker Range; Gunung Trusmadi. Endemic to Sabah.

Cross diagnosis.

In general shape most similar to Kaliella dendrophila , differs by the protoconch sculpture with predominant radial riblets and the more convex outer whorls. Also similar to Kaliella calculosa and Kaliella microsoma , differs by the less dense mode of coiling (compare the width of the third and fourth whorl).

It differs from Kaliella gregaria by its denser mode of coiling (compare diameters of the third whorl), and from Kaliella eurytrochus by the more dense spiral sculpture on the outer whorls, above the periphery, as well as by the larger aperture at the same number of whorls.

Etymology.

The name refers to the mode of coiling [sub-laxa (L.) = a little loose].