Abstract:

The camaenid land snail genus Camaena is widely distributed throughout Southeast Asia. Thirteen species are found in China alone. Among these, C. cicatricosa (Müller, 1774) is the most widely distributed species, including four subspecies, C. c. ducalis (Ancey, 1885), C. c. inflata (Möllendorff, 1885), C. c. obtecta (Fischer, 1898) and C. c. connectens (Dautzenberg & Fischer, 1906). The systematics of these taxa is revised herein based on comparative shell morphology and anatomy as well as analyses of DNA sequences of two mitochondrial genes (COI, 16S rRNA) and one nuclear marker, ITS2. We found that all subspecies form well-supported clades in a molecular phylogeny and are well-differentiated from each other by genetic distances that are consistent with amounts of interspecific differentiation. In addition, they clearly differ from each other in reproductive features. Based on these observations, we elevate all four subspecies to the rank of full species. Moreover, based on morphological and mitochdondrial differentiation, we describe a new species, Camaena poyuensis sp. n. from Guangxi, China. The new species conspicuously differs from its sibling species C. cicatricosa in having a larger and more depressed shell, a completely covered umbilicus, more or less purplish peristome, an obtuse angle at the junction of the basal and columellar lip, longer pedunculus of the bursa copulatrix, thicker epiphallus and penis, and short conic verge. Previous named species are also redescribed on their shell and anatomical characters, because the original descriptions are uninformative.

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