A new species of freshwater snail Tchangmargarya (Gastropoda: Viviparidae) endemic to a vanished small lake in Yunnan, China

ABSTRACT

Habitat loss poses a grave threat to endemic species with narrow distributions. Some species become extinct even before scientific identification due to habitat destruction. Here, a probable example is reported based on some recent and subfossil shells from an almost disappeared wetland lake in Yunnan Province, China. A new ornamented freshwater snail species, Tchangmargarya ziyi n. sp., is recognised and described based on morphological comparison with the other Tchangmargarya species. The subfossil specimens of the new species show a great similarity to Tchangmargrya yangtsunghaiensis (Tchang & Tsi, 1949), indicating their potentially close relationship. The discovery of the new species demonstrates that the plateau lakes of Yunnan, even the small ones, have a high biodiversity and endemism. Furthermore, it enriches the knowledge of the distribution of Tchangmargarya and provides further evidence that the Liangwang Mountains are a significant biogeographic barrier to three endemic viviparid genera (Margarya, Anularya and Tchangmargarya) of Yunnan. Since the only known habitat of this species has been mostly landfilled due to the construction of a golf course and villas, this species possibly has already gone extinct. In order to implement conservation measures more efficiently, more comprehensive surveys should be conducted in all plateau lakes of Yunnan, including those that might seem insignificant.

中文摘要

基于产自中国云南省杨林镇嘉丽泽湿地八步海的空壳及亚化石标本, 本文描述了田螺科一新种, 缁衣玺螺蛳 Tchangmargarya ziyi n. sp.。其亚化石形态与阳宗海玺螺蛳 Tchangmargrya yangtsunghaiensis 显示出很高的相似性, 暗示了其可能的亲缘关系。本新种的发现表明了云南高原湖泊中即使是很小的湖泊也具有很高的生物多样性和特有性, 扩大了玺螺蛳属的已知分布区, 并再次证实梁王山对云南田螺科三个特有属 (螺蛳属 Margarya, 环螺蛳属 Anularya, 玺螺蛳属 Tchangmargarya) 产生了显著的地理隔离。由于其目前唯一已知分布的湖泊因为其周围兴建别墅以及高尔夫球场已经逐渐消失, 本种很有可能已经灭绝。为了更好地保护尚存的高原湖泊特有物种, 应当对更多的云南小型高原湖泊进行更深入的调查。http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C00AD5AB-35E6-4404-B04E-77C990E921F8

KEYWORDS:

• Extinction
• habitat loss
• Jialize Wetland
• taxonomy
• Tchangmargarya ziyi n. sp

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Corrigendum

Acknowledgements

Mr Tianhao Shi (石天昊) and Mr Tao Wang (王涛) helped to collected materials. Mr Xiaodong Wang (王晓东) and Mr Jinjie Bao (金鲍杰) helped to measure parts of specimens. Mr Kai Caspar and Ms Mariah Howell are thanked for improving the text. Dr Winston Ponder, Dr Don Colgan and two anonymous reviewers are thanked for their comments on the manuscript. The Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Science is acknowledged for providing specimens and literature references.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.