Abida secale elegantissima Gittenberger, 1973

Kokshoorn, Bas & Gittenberger, Edmund, 2010, Chondrinidae taxonomy revisited: New synonymies, new taxa, and a checklist of species and subspecies (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pulmonata) 2539, Zootaxa 2539 (1), pp. 1-62 : 16

Abida secale elegantissima Gittenberger, 1973 (pl. 3 fig. N)

Abida secale elegantissima Gittenberger, 1973: 108 .

Type locality:, Spain, Gerona ,. Sierra de Finestras , Coll de Sta. Maria de Finestras. Holotype: Museo de Zoologia, Barcelona.

Distribution.—See fig. 3 . Only known from the type locality.

Description (after Gittenberger 1973).—Shell fusiform, more slender than any other Abida species or subspecies, with 9 3/4–11 moderately inflated whorls, sculptured with more or less regularly placed, weak axial ribs. Body whorl obliquely flattened, narrowed with an indistinct keel and a very short basis. Palatal side of aperture slightly leaning forward (in lateral view). Umbilicus very narrowly open. Shell height, 8.9–10.9 mm; width, 2.3–2.7 mm. The maximum width is reached approximately halfway the total shell height. Apertural lip strongly thickened; its parietal edges connected by a thin callus. Angularis weakly connected with spiralis or separated. Subangularis inconspicuous. Parietalis inconspicuous in frontal view, but increasingly higher deeper inside the body whorl. Infraparietalis often present, as well as several weak folds on the apertural lip. Columellaris longer than infracolumellaris, reaching up to the edge of the aperture. A basalis is also present. Infrapalatalis, palatalis inferior and palatalis superior are more or less clearly indented or interrupted, reaching up to the edge of the aperture. Suprapalatalis and sometimes a weak suturalis present at posterodorsal palatal center.

Notes. — Extensive fieldwork in the area, with repeated visits to the supposed type locality between 2004– 2007, did not yield any specimens of this subspecies. In 2008 however, Mr. H.-J. Hirschfelder collected several empty shells of A. s. elegantissima close to the type locality (pers. comm.) A visit to this area (app. 500 m north of the Monasterio de Sta. Maria de Finestras ) in June 2009 (BK) yielded several live specimens ( RMNH 116482 ), demonstrating the continued existence of this subspecies .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Distribution of Abida secale subspecies (II) in NE Spain.