Small snails in a big place: a radiation in the semi-arid rangelands in northern Australia (Eupulmonata,Camaenidae, Nanotrachia gen. nov.)

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Abstract

Continuing the revision of the Camaenidae in the Australian Monsoon Tropics, we employed comparative analyses of morphological features (with a focus on shell and penial anatomy) and genetic markers (with a focus on mitochondrial COI and 16S sequences) to address the systematic relationships of land snails from the Victoria River District, Northern Territory, and adjacent East Kimberley (Western Australia). These analyses revealed that the species under study represented the previously undescribed genus Nanotrachia. This genus differs from all other camaenid genera known from north-western Australia most conspicuously by its small, flat, and ribbed shell.
Six species are identified as members of the new genus, four of them new species (Nanotrachia costulata sp. nov., Nanotrachia carinata sp. nov., Nanotrachia coronata sp. nov., Nanotrachia levis sp. nov.). Two further species have already been described previously but assigned to different genera. These species, Ordtrachia intermedia (as the type species of Nanotrachia) and Mouldingia orientalis, are here transferred to Nanotrachia.
Like other camaenids from the Australian Monsoon Tropics, species of Nanotrachia are characterized by essentially
allopatric distributions, regional endemism, and a patchy distribution across their range.