''Gudeodiscus messageri'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of air-breathing

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

, a terrestrial

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates, is an informal group (previously an order, and before that a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group includ ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the family Plectopylidae.

Subspecies

''Gudeodiscus messageri'' include two subspecies: * ''Gudeodiscus messageri messageri'' (Gude, 1909) * ''Gudeodiscus messageri raheemi'' Páll-Gergely & Hunyadi, 2015

Distribution

The distribution of ''Gudeodiscus messageri messageri'' is known from

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

along the Chinese border (

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

Province). The distribution of ''Gudeodiscus messageri raheemi'' is known from Vietnam from Ninh Bình Province, Thanh Hóa Province,

Sơn La Province ''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnam or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus ''Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted elsewhere, ...

, Hòa Bình Province and Nghệ An Province and from Luang Prabang Province in north

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

and Vientiane Province in northwest Laos. ''Gudeodiscus messageri raheemi'' in Laos is the westernmost record of the genus ''Gudeodiscus''.

Description

The shell of ''Gudeodiscus messageri'' is small to medium-sized, with slightly elevated

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

. The dorsal surface is somewhat domed. The

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

is almost circular. The apertural fold is missing. Callus is rather blunt and only slightly curved. Parietal wall has two lamellae (the anterior lamella may be dissolved into small denticles). Lower parietal plica is free or connected to the anterior lamella. Palatal plicae are oblique, or depressed Z-shaped, usually in contact with each other.

Gudeodiscus messageri messageri

The most important shell characters for identification of ''Gudeodiscus messageri messageri'' include: slightly elevated

, callus is not angled in the middle, apertural fold is always missing. Other characteristics include: anterior lamella is normal (it is not dissolved into small denticles). Lower parietal plica does not extend beyond the anterior lamella in the anterior direction. The width of the shell is 12.75–18.5 mm. Views of the shell of ''Gudeodiscus messageri messageri'' by

Gerard Pierre Laurent Kalshoven Gude Gerard Pierre Laurent Kalshoven Gude (1858 Amsterdam – 8 November 1924) Woodward B. B. (1925). " GERARD PIERRE LAURENT KALSHOVEN GUDE, F.Z.S., ETC. 1858–1924". ''Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London'' 16(5): 205-206. was a malaco ...

Gudeodiscus messageri raheemi

The most important shell characters for identification of ''Gudeodiscus messageri raheemi'' include:

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. In gastropods In gastropods, the b ...

is less shouldered than that of the nominotypical subspecies, but plicae have to be observed for correct identification. Views of the shell of ''Gudeodiscus messageri raheemi'':

Gudeodiscus messageri raheemi reproductive system

The

radula The radula (, ; plural radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food ...

of ''Gudeodiscus messageri raheemi'' has 8 lateral teeth and 16 marginal teeth. The size of the central tooth is as large as or larger than the ectocone of the first lateral. The shape of the first lateral is rhomboid and pointed. Marginal teeth are tricuspid with rather sharp inner cusp and deep incision between the cusps. Embryos were recorded to be present in the uterus. There were not recorded calcareous granules on the internal surface of penis.

Ecology

It is a ground-dwelling species as all other plectopylid snails in Vietnam. It lives in primary forests and in old

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

broad-leaved forests. It can be found in the humid microenvironments under leaves, logs, limestone rocks and in black soil accumulated inside limestone pockets. It co-occur with other plectopylids in Vietnam: with ''

Gudeodiscus phlyarius ''Gudeodiscus phlyarius'' is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Plectopylidae. ''Gudeodiscus phlyarius'' is the type species of the genus ''Gudeodiscus''. Distribution The distributi ...

'' and with '' Gudeodiscus hemmeni''. It also co-occur with clausiliid '' Garnieria mouhoti'', that is also associated with the moderate humidity of broad-leaved forests.

References

This article incorporates Creative Commons (CC-BY-4.0) text from the referencesPáll-Gergely B., Hunyadi A., Ablett J., Luong Van H., Naggs F. & Asami T. (2015). "Systematics of the family Plectopylidae in Vietnam with additional information on Chinese taxa (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Stylommatophora)". ''ZooKeys'' 473: 1–118. .Páll-Gergely B., Muratov I. V. & Asami T. (2016). "The family Plectopylidae (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) in Laos with the description of two new genera and a new species". ''ZooKeys'' 592: 1-26. .

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28432413 Plectopylidae Gastropods described in 1909