Subterranean Tateidae (Gastropoda; Caenogastropoda; Truncatelloidea) from the Ngalia Basin, Northern Territory, Australia

ABSTRACT

A new tateid genus, Ngalidrobia n. gen., containing six new species, is described from groundwater sampled from wells in the Ngalia Basin in the Northern Territory, Australia. The new species differ in their shell morphology which ranges from near planispiral to conical. Of these species, two live in sympatry in one location, the remainder being allopatric. Of the named tateid genera, Ngalidrobia is, on the basis of molecular results using three partial sequences (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, and 16S and 28S ribosomal RNA), most closely related to Trochidrobia from artesian springs in northern South Australia.

KEYWORDS:

• Mollusca
• groundwater
• stygobiont
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

Field collecting was undertaken in the company variously of Alan Russ, Bob Read, Chris Watts, Steve Cooper and Danielle Stringer and was once supported by the Waterhouse Club (South Australian Museum). Peter Jolly (Department of Lands Planning and Environment Water Resources Division, Northern Territory) permitted the participation of Alan Russ and Bob Read and provided a vehicle for remote travel. The area is now the Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, Australian Wildlife Conservancy. Thanks to Roy and Janet Chisholm for permission to collect on Napperby Station. Collecting was done under permit from the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory. Earlier field work was enabled by Peter Jolly, then Director, Groundwater Department of Lands Planning and Environment Water Resources Division, Northern Territory which provided material support, particularly through Bob Read who facilitated the logistics and accompanied two of four field trips. The Waterhouse Club of the South Australian Museum supported one field trip. We thank Joo-Lae Cho, Mark Harvey, Stefano Taiti and Chris Watts for determining some of the non-molluscan species. Sampling in Ngalia Basin was undertaken partly in association with grants from Australian Biological Resources Study to WFH and C.H.S. Watts. Dr Richard Willan provided the registration numbers for the material and Alison Miller (Australian Museum) managed the loan material. We thank Doris Shearman who edited the manuscript prior to submission and Don Colgan, Bruce Marshall and Hiroshi Fukuda for their useful review comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.