Cantareus Risso, 1826

Bouaziz-Yahiatene, Houria, Inaebnit, Thomas, Medjdoub-Bensaad, Ferroudja, Colomba, Maria Stella, Sparacio, Ignazio, Gregorini, Armando, Liberto, Fabio & Neubert, Eike, 2019, Revisited - the species of Tweeting vineyard snails, genus Cantareus Risso, 1826 (Stylommatophora, Helicidae, Helicinae, Otalini), ZooKeys 876, pp. 1-26 : 4-6

Cantareus Risso, 1826

Cantareus Risso, 1826, Histoire naturelle des principales productions de l’Europe Méridionale, IV: 64.

Notes.

In Table 3 , the most important character states of the shells and the genital organs of the Otalini subgroup according to Razkin et al. (2015: 108, Fig. 2 ) including the genera Cantareus , Cornu , and Rossmaessleria are shown. Within the Otalini , Cantareus , Cornu , and Erctella share the synapomorphy of a globular to slightly conical shell, other genera in the tribe tend to have more flattened shells (character 1). In all other shell traits, there is no apomorphy that discriminates between Cantareus , Cornu , and Erctella on generic level. On the level of the genital organs, the three genera share the synapomophy of the simple pore connecting epiphallus and penial chamber (char acter 8), while Rossmaessleria shows the plesiomophic state with two functional penial papillae. In Cornu , the flagellum is much longer than in the other genera. The phylogenetic value of this character state is not clear within the Otalini , within the Helicini , it is considered a plesiomorphy ( Neubert 2014). Other character states like ratios in the bursa copulatrix complex (character 10). A massive atrial stimulator can be found in Cantareus and Cornu , while in Erctella , it is relatively small (character 11). Large and massive stimulators are found in many taxa of Helicidae , so a reduction of this system is here interpreted as an apomorphic character state.

Remarks. The change of the status of Cantareus from a monotypic to a polytypic genus causes some nomenclatorial problems. The type species of the genus is Helix naticoides Draparnaud, 1801 from France, which so far has been considered a synonym of Helix aperta Born, 1778, with the specimen preserved in the Born collection in the NHMW as the name bearing syntype of aperta ( Fig. 2 ).The origin of Born’s specimen is unknown, and there are almost no shell morphological differences to the Algerian lineage, which proved to represent a separate species ( Fig. 1 ). The correct origin of Born’s specimen could probably be clarified genetically by applying NGS methods using shell fragments of the syntype specimen, but this is beyond the scope of this paper.

Anticipating a north African origin of the syntype NHMW-MO 14005 by fixing its type locality in Algeria ends up in a chaotic rearrangement of species names in the group. For Europe, the name naticoides would be reactivated with its last use as an ac cepted species in 1850 (!). The north African species would then be named apertus contradicting 170 years of permanent use. By fixing the use of the name Helix koraegaelia Bourguignat in Locard, 1882, to the north African lineage, this problem is resolved, and the stability or universality of names used in zoology is guaranteed.

Cantareus apertus is well known for its protective behaviour, which gave the genus its name " Cantareus : the singer". Once disturbed ( Fig. 23 ), the species is able to press the air in its lung cavity through the pneumostome producing a series of tweeking sounds (https://youtu.be/CWOhZWLkd4o).

Figures

Figure 1. Combined RaxML and Bayesian tree of Cantareus, Cornu, and Erctella, using COI, 16 S, H 3, 28 S, and ITS 2.

Figure 2. Cantareus apertus. Syntype of Helix aperta NHMW-MO 14005, shell diameter 28.75 mm. Shell in A frontal B dorsal C lateral and D apical views E labels of the syntype lot. Photographs NHMW, x 1.5.

Figures 21 - 25. Pictures of living specimens of Cantareus species 21 Cantareus apertus: on the left a black specimen with brown shell from Roccapalumba, Sicily, Italy, 15. XI. 2009 (Coll. F. Liberto 5532); on the right a yellow specimen with green shell from Prizzi, Sicily, Italy, 15. XI. 2009 (Coll. F. Liberto 5545) 22 Cantareus apertus, Niscemi, Sicily Italy, 22. X. 2016 23 Cantareus apertus, Niscemi, Sicily, Italy, 22. X. 2016, specimens defending themselves by emitting bubbles of slime and a series of tweeting sounds 24 Cantareus apertus, Foggia, Ordona, 41.313889 N, 15.622222 E, 12.10.2018, leg. G. Martucci (photo / collection I. Sparacio 5031 / 9) 25 Cantareus subapertus, Algeria, Parc National du Djudjura, 1700 m, 11. X. 2008 (Photographs Vela Errol).