Minaselates, a new genus and new species of Epiphragmophoridae from Brazil (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Helicoidea)

CUEZZO M.G.; PENA, M.

ZOOLOGIA (CURITIBA)

SOC BRASILEIRA ZOOLOGIA

Año: 2017 vol. 34 p. 1 - 12

1984-4670

We describe a new genus and a new species in the family Epiphragmophoridae, Minaselates paradoxa sp. nov. The new species was found at the National Park Cavernas do Peruaçu in northern Minas Gerais state, a conservation unit into the Cerrado diversity hotspot of Brazil. Its invertebrate fauna, especially concerning the land gastropod species, although suspected to be rich and diverse, is poorly known. Minaselates paradoxa sp. nov. is classified in Epiphragmophoridae because it has a dart apparatus with a single dart sac and two unequal mucous glands at the terminal genitalia, characters used for the diagnosis of the family. Minaselates gen. nov. differs from Epiphragmophora Doering, 1874 by having a granulose protoconch, shell spire with blunt apex, complex microsculpture on the teleoconch and closed umbilicus fused with the shell wall. Also, significant differences between both genera are the presence of a long and thin kidney that extends more than half the length of the pulmonary cavity, the presence of a flagellar caecum, and a smooth jaw in Minaselates gen. nov. Some of these characters are similar to some genera classified in Pleurodontidae. The finding of this new species and genus is particularly significant to refine the family definition, since Epiphragmophoridae has been traditionally diagnosed using the same characters of Epiphragmophora. Dinotropis Pilsbry & Cockerell, 1937, the other valid genus in the family, is monospecific and is only known by its shell morphology, similar in many ways to Epiphragmophora. A cladistics analysis supports Minaselates gen. nov. as a different entity and as sister group of Epiphragmophora within Epiphragmophoridae.