The Enidae of Timor (Stylommatophora: Orthurethra)

ABSTRACT

The systematic classification of the Enidae of Timor is reviewed by means of comparative morphology and molecular phylogenetics using recently collected land snail samples from Timor-Leste (‘East Timor’). Features of the renal and genital anatomy as well as analyses of nuclear 28S rRNA sequences confirm the placement of the species in the Enidae. Generic combinations employed by earlier authors are discussed. The name Coccoderma Möllendorff, 1901 used for enids from the Indo-Australian Archipelago is pre-occupied by Coccoderma Zittel, 1887 and therefore not available. The assignment of species from Timor to Pseudonapaeus Westerlund, 1887, which is otherwise known from central Asia, is also rejected. Instead, the Enidae from Timor are here affiliated with Apoecus Kobelt, 1902, a name originally introduced for the Papuan species Buliminus colonus Möllendorff, 1895. While Apoecus samples from Timor-Leste form three distinct mitochondrial clades, only two groups can be reliably distinguished by their morphology. One of these groups represents the previously named species Apoecus apertus (Martens, 1863). This species is found throughout lowland Timor occurring at altitudes of up to 600 m. The second species has been found in the Ramelau Mountains at altitudes above 1300 m, and is described as Apoecus ramelauensis n. sp.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3A8781B6-6EAC-4C58-8DB3-63741B03B43C

KEYWORDS:

• Cerastidae
• Coccoderma
• Lesser Sunda islands
• Pulmonata
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

We thank Manuel Mendes, Director for Protected Areas and National Parks, National Directorate of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, for permitting field work in Timor-Leste and for his continuous support. John Slapcinsky kindly provided a photograph of Apoecus colonus. We would like to acknowledge the efforts of John Stanisic and Winston Ponder, as well as the journal’s copy editor, who reviewed an earlier version of this manuscript. Their comments and corrections have helped to improve the quality of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Our research has partly been funded through a private donation to the Australian Museum Foundation.