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Cryptic diversity in a widespread land snail: revision of the genus X anthomelon Martens, 1860 from the A ustralian M onsoon T ropics ( P ulmonata, C amaenidae)
Author(s) -
Köhler Frank,
Burghardt Ingo
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
zoologica scripta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.204
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1463-6409
pISSN - 0300-3256
DOI - 10.1111/zsc.12144
Subject(s) - land snail , biology , tropics , ecology , genus , gastropoda , range (aeronautics) , zoology , pulmonata , key (lock) , evolutionary biology , materials science , composite material
The camaenid genus Xanthomelon is widely distributed throughout the Australian Monsoon Tropics and eastern Queensland, with nine species currently being recognised in Australia based exclusively on shell features. Due to the combination of poor taxonomic descriptions and considerable variation in shell characters, considerable confusion surrounds the number of species in the Northern Territory ( NT ), their key characteristics and distributions. To uncover the full taxonomic diversity of Xanthomelon in the NT , we employed molecular phylogenetics and comparative studies of morphology/anatomy. Based on the patterns of mitochondrial differentiation as well as comparative shell and penial anatomy, we demonstrate that previous studies failed to correctly delineate species. We recognise five species in the NT , of which two ( X. darwinense n. sp. and X. arnhemense n. sp.) are newly described. These species have distributions that range from narrowly endemic to most widely distributed throughout most of the Australian Monsoon Tropics. The ranges of multiple species overlap extensively with each other, which is a rather unusual phenomenon amongst the Australian Camaenidae.