Erhaia jannei Gittenberger & Stelbrink, 2020

Gittenberger, Edmund, Leda, Pema, Wangchuk, Jigme, Gyeltshen, Choki & Bjoern Stelbrink,, 2020, The genera Erhaia and Tricula (Gastropoda, Rissooidea, Amnicolidae and Pomatiopsidae) in Bhutan and elsewhere in the eastern Himalaya, ZooKeys 929, pp. 1-17 : 4

Erhaia jannei Gittenberger & Stelbrink sp. nov. Figs 2 , 3 , 11

Erhaia sp. Gittenberger et al. 2017a: 25, fig. 3; 2017c: 900, 903, fig. 8.

Material examined.

Holotype. (Fig. 2 ) Bhutan • District Thimphu, c. 5 km E of Chhuzom, W of Geneykha; in brooklet with a prayer wheel along the road; 2750 m a.s.l.; 27°18'43"N, 89°36'10"E; E. Gittenberger, Choki Gyeltshen & Pema Leda leg. 25.X.2018; NBCB 1057. Paratypes. (Fig. 3 ) 6 shells and 2 animals in ethanol 70%; same data as for holotype; NBCB 1058.

Diagnosis.

Shell large for the genus (H> 2mm), ovoid, with a relatively large aperture.

Shell.

Shell obliquely ovoid, with 3½ -4 convex, shouldered whorls that are separated by a deep suture; clearly higher than broad; yellowish brown with fine irregular growth lines and some blackish brown periostracal ridges, one of which runs from the apertural columellar border into the umbilicus. Peristome not reflected. Parietal, columellar and a short part of the adjoining basal apertural border thickened by a whitish callus. Most specimens with a continuous peristome and a narrow umbilical chink. Protoconch encrusted in all specimens; teleoconch without spiral sculpture.

Measurements.

(N = 9): H 2.2-2.4 mm, B 1.5-1.6 mm. Holotype 2.2 × 1.6 mm.

Ecology

(Fig. 11 ). The species is uncommon on the rocks in the shaded streamlet uphill of the prayer wheel, where it occurs with Galba truncatula ( Müller, 1774), Physa sp. (new for Bhutan), and Erhaia pelkiae sp. nov.

DNA data

(Fig. 18 ). The three individuals shared the same haplotype for both 16S rRNA (GenBank acc. no. MT239078) and COI (GenBank acc. no. MT237716). The uncorrected genetic p-distances between this species and E. wangchuki were 0.84% for 16S rRNA and 4.87% for COI. The distances were considerably higher when compared to Erhaia sp. from China, Guangxi, viz. 2.74% for 16S rRNA and 10.25% for COI (GenBank acc. nos. KC832722 and KC832701, respectively).

Notes.

This species was discovered in 2012, but since only a single shell was collected then, a description was considered premature.

Etymology.

The epithet jannei refers to Mr Janne Clewing, the son of the last author.

Figures

Figure 11. Type locality of both Erhaia jannei and E. pelkiae; Bhutan, district Thimphu, W of Geneykha, brooklet with water powered prayer wheel, 2750 m a. s. l. Photo by EG.

Figure 18. Maximum likelihood tree reconstructed with RAxML BlackBox (Stamatakis et al. 2008; GTR + G substitution model for each partition and 100 bootstrap replicates) based on the 16 S rRNA and COI dataset of Liu et al. (2014) and Guan et al. (2008), with new data in red. Numbers on branches denote bootstrap values> 50.

Figures 2 - 10. Erhaia jannei sp. nov., holotype (2 H 2.25 mm) and paratype (3 H 2.02 mm). Bhutan, district Thimphu, W of Geneykha, brooklet with water powered prayer wheel, 2750 m a. s. l. Photos by J. Goud Erhaia pelkiae sp. nov., holotype (4 H 1.86 mm) and paratype (5 H 1.86 mm). Bhutan, district Thimphu, W of Geneykha, brooklet with water powered prayer wheel, 2750 m a. s. l. Photos by J. Goud Erhaia wangchuki Gittenberger, Sherub & Stelbrink, 2017. Shells from the type locality (6 H 1.98 mm) (7 H 2.03 mm); NBCB 1072. Bhutan, district Wangdue Phodrang, Gangchhu, Gangzetem brooklet, 2883 m a. s. l. Photos by J. Goud 8 Erhaia banepaensis Nesemann & S. Sharma, 2007, holotype (H 1.95 mm); NHMW 103319. Nepal, Central Zone, Kavre district, small forest stream, left tributary of the Chandeswari Khola upstream from Chandeshwari at Banepa. NHMW 9 Erhaia nainitalensis Davis & Rao, 1997, holotype of E. chandeshwariensis Nesemann & S. Sharma, 2007 (H 1.94 mm); NHMW 103315. Nepal, Central Zone, Kavre district, small forest stream, left tributary of the Chandeswari Khola upstream from Chandeshwari at Banepa. NHMW 10 Erhaia sugurensis Nesemann, Shah & Tachamo, 2007, holotype (H 1.95 mm); NHMW 104172. Nepal, Central Zone, Lalitpur district, Godawari, upper reaches of Sugure Khola forest stream, 1700 m a. s. l. NHMW.