On the relationships of the genus Napaeus (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Enidae) with the descriptions of four new species from the Canary Islands

Abstract

Species of the Napaeus subgenera show incongruences between genital anatomy and molecular phylogenetic data. In this study, four new Napaeus species from the Canary Islands are described. Shell drawings of the 56 known Napaeus species were obtained from shell photographs for comparison. Differences between some genital system character-states of the species described here and those of the original subgenera descriptions are evident. Consequently, in the absence of phylogenetic analyses, the new species are not assigned to the Napaeus subgenera. In addition, the possible relationships among Macaronesian enids are preliminarily evaluated. Within the Macaronesian region, enids are exclusively present in the Canaries and the Azores. The absence of enids from Madeira, combined with the differences in genital anatomy between the Canarian and Azorean enids and the relatively large distance between these archipelagos, may indicate different immigration pathways (Africa/Europe, respectively) and possibly different phylogenetic origins for the Canarian and Azorean enid populations.