Montenegrina laxa delii, Feher, Zoltan & Szekeres, Miklos, 2016

Feher, Zoltan & Szekeres, Miklos, 2016, Taxonomic revision of the rock-dwelling door snail genus Montenegrina Boettger, 1877 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Clausiliidae), ZooKeys 599, pp. 1-137 : 49-50

Taxon classification Animalia Stylommatophora Clausiliidae

Montenegrina laxa delii ssp. n. Fig. 21C

Diagnosis.

Large subspecies with tumid shell, long overlapping lamellae superior and spiralis.

Description.

The large, tumid, brownish-corneous shell consists of 8½ to 10½ whorls. The surface is smooth at the lower whorls, whereas toward the apex it becomes indistinctly stiate-costate. The neck is also indistinctly costate with riblets that become crowded behind the aperture. The basal and peripheral crests are well recognizable. The light brownish, wide ovoid peristome is broadly attached, with simple or only slightly swollen margin. The lamellae superior and spiralis long overlap. The lamella inferior is well emerged. The weakly-bent subcolumellaris is retracted, its end is barely visible in slanted view through the aperture. The lateral lunella is short and broad, with diffuse outline. It is fused, through the plica superior, to the plica principalis, and downward in an almost straight line also to the long basalis. In most cases the subclaustralis is short and weak, the reduced sulcalis is fused to the lunella complex. The anterior plica superior of variable strength starts diverging from, then becomes parallel to, the plica principalis. It is not connected to the lunella complex. The clausilium plate is not visible through the aperture.

Dimensions

(in mm). Holotype Hs: 16.7, Ws: 4.9, Ha: 4.4, Wa: 3.7; paratypes (NHMW 111235, n = 12): Hs: 16.1-20.7 (mean 18.0, S.D. 1.31), Ws: 4.9-6.0 (mean 5.3, S.D. 0.39), Ha: 4.4-5.5, Wa: 3.6-4.6.

Differential diagnosis.

Differs from nearest occurring Montenegrina laxa laxa and Montenegrina laxa disjuncta Fehér & Szekeres, 2006 by its larger, stronger sculptured shell and weaker, shorter anterior plica superior, whereas from all other Montenegrina laxa subspecies by the combination of a large, tumid shell and long overlapping lamellae superior and spiralis.

Type locality.

Albania, Kukës District, S of Draj-Reç, entrance of the Vilë Gorge, 430 m, 41.8830°N, 20.3370°E.

Type material.

Type locality, leg. ZF, JG, 2.vii.2005, holotype (NHMW 111237), paratypes (NHMW 111235/58+5a+4aj, HNHM 99645/63, GR/63); Draj-Reç (11 km S of the Përroi i Bushtricës mouth), 550 m, 41.8908°N, 20.3370°E, leg. TD, ZE, ZF, DM, 9.x.2005, paratypes (HNHM 99646/15, MMM-B01328/15, ER/15, SZ/4).

Etymology.

The new taxon is named after Tamás Deli, malacologist (MMM-B), who participated in several Balkan field trips, including the one that led to the discovery of this subspecies.

Distribution.

Western foothills of the Korab Mts in northeastern Albania. Known from two nearby sites in the valley of the Black Drin (Drin i Zi), around Draj-Reç. This is the northernmost subspecies of this polytypic species (Fig. 23).