Abstract
A new species of Diancta of the staircase snail family Diplommatinidae is described from Mt. Savusavu, Vanua Levu Island, Fiji. Due to its left coiling shell and a constriction before the last whorl, it is placed in the genus Diancta. Micro-CT imaging reveals two apertural teeth and an inner lamella that is situated at the zone of constriction. The shell abruptly changes coiling direction by 45 degrees before the last whorl. Up to now, this coiling modus had not yet been documented for any species of Diplommatinidae from the Fiji Islands.
Highlights
Micromolluscs are defined being smaller than 5 mm and can be found in all parts of the world. They belong to different gastropod groups, are diverse in their habitat needs, appearance and, due to their small size, certainly underexplored
Phylogenetic data are underrepresented in the available data, and none of the Fijian Diplommatinidae has so far been molecularly assessed
We assign the new species to Diancta
Summary
Micromolluscs are defined being smaller than 5 mm and can be found in all parts of the world. Group among the terrestrial island micromolluscs that is well represented in the Indo-Pacific region from Southeast Asia to the south-west Pacific and Australia (Stanisic et al 2010) It is one of the most locally and regionally diverse land snail families (Webster et al 2012), showing high endemism. The shell of the new species presented here is remarkable because it changes its coiling direction upwards to the apex and again back to its original coiling axis This coiling mode was not yet known for any other species of Diplommatinidae from Fiji Islands. Phylogenetic data are underrepresented in the available data, and none of the Fijian Diplommatinidae has so far been molecularly assessed It is not clear whether the unusual shape of the shell is a species-specific trait or whether it belongs to another genus. This mummified tissue could potentially be used for DNA extraction and sequencing
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