Macrochlamydinae, Godwin-Austen, 1888

Hyman, Isabel T. & Ponder, Winston F., 2010, A morphological phylogenetic analysis and generic revision of Australian Helicarionidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Stylommatophora), and an assessment of the relationships of the family 2462, Zootaxa 2462 (1), pp. 1-148 : 97

Subfamily Macrochlamydinae

Remarks. The classification of Baker (1941a) and Solem (1966) is followed here in the inclusion of this group as a subfamily of Ariophantidae , while Schileyko (2002b) treated it as a tribe of Ariophantinae .

As well as Macrochlamys indica Benson, 1832 , we tentatively include Sesara infrendens (Gould, 1844) , the type species of Sesara , in the subfamily Macrochlamydinae . This latter species was not included in the phylogenetic analysis because only juvenile specimens were available. However, dissection showed that it possesses a folded epiphallic retractor caecum, appearing very similar to the coiled retractor caecum that is one of the synapomorphies of Macrochlamydinae . The only other species of Sesara for which anatomical data are known, Sesara parva Solem, 1966 , also has a coiled retractor caecum ( Solem 1966). Both species of Sesara also possess a large flagellum or lime-sac (the presence of an axial filament could not be confirmed; Solem 1966; this study), which according to Solem (1966), is also characteristic of Macrochlamydinae .

The possible placement of Sesara in Macrochlamydinae has obvious implications for the status of subfamily Sesarinae . Baker (1941a) divided his Helicarionini (= Helicarionidae as defined by Hausdorf 1998) into Helicarioninae, which had an epiphallic retractor caecum, and Sesarinae , which lacked such a caecum. This conclusion was presumably based on the only anatomical drawing of the type species of Sesara then available ( Blanford & Godwin-Austen 1908), which showed no caecum. Subsequent dissections have shown the caecum to be present in that species ( Schileyko 2002b; this study) and in Sesara parva ( Solem 1966) . Solem (1966) and Hausdorf (1998) are followed here in regarding Sesarinae as synonym of Macroclamydinae.

We recognise Macrochlamydinae as a subfamily defined by the following key characters:

Shell not reduced (most taxa) or reduced (few taxa); sole furrows distinct. Epiphallic retractor caecum usually coiled; penis retractor muscle inserts laterally on epiphallic caecum. Stimulator absent or present.