Curvella hadrotes Vermeulen, Liew & Schilthuizen

Vermeulen, Jaap J., Liew, Thor-Seng & Schilthuizen, Menno, 2015, Additions to the knowledge of the land snails of Sabah (Malaysia, Borneo), including 48 new species, ZooKeys 531, pp. 1-139 : 94-95

Taxon classification Animalia Stylommatophora Subulinidae

Curvella hadrotes Vermeulen, Liew & Schilthuizen sp. n. Figure 77

Holotype.

Malaysia, Sabah, Tawau Province, Danum Valley Conservation Area, 2 km NW of Research Station (leg. H.A. Rutjes, BOR/MOL 663).

Examined material from Sabah.

Interior Province. Pinangah valley, Batu Urun (= Bukit Sinobang) (leg. J.J. Vermeulen, V 1160). Sandakan Province. Segama valley, North end of limestone ridge on East bank Tabin River (leg. J.J. Vermeulen & M. Schilthuizen, V 7778). Tawau Province. Segama valley, ‘Kirk’s Cave’ 8 km North of Lahad Datu (leg. J.J. Vermeulen, V 1222).

Description.

Shell small, thin, slightly translucent, white, subcylindrical, only slightly tapering towards the apex, with slightly convex sides. Surface glossy. Whorls: apical whorls moderately convex, others slightly convex, the last slightly flattened around the periphery; suture moderately impressed. Protoconch large, smooth. Teleoconch. Radial sculpture predominant, widely and somewhat irregularly spaced, rather fine but narrow and rather deep grooves, in between these a finer, inconspicuous striation present locally. Spiral sculpture: absent or a very fine spiral striation, particularly present locally on the apical whorls, shallowly engraved in the areas in between the radial grooves. Aperture oblique, narrowly ovate, peristome not thickened nor reflected. Umbilicus closed. Dimensions: Height 7.5-7.8 mm; width 1.4-1.5 mm; number of whorls c. 6 1/8, height aperture 2.8-3 mm; width aperture 1.4-1.5 mm.

Habitat in Sabah and distribution.

Primary and secondary forest on limestone, also on other types of bedrock. Alt. 0-400 m. Sabah: scattered localities. Infrequent. Endemic to Sabah.

Cross diagnosis.

Among Borneo Subulinidae , Curvella hadrotes is identified by its subcylindrical shell and the radial sculpture.

Etymology.

The name refers to the general shape of the shell [hadrotes (Gr.) = thick].