''Monterissa gowerensis'', also known as the Lord Howe microturban, 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 minute cave
snail
A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class G ...
s with an
operculum,
gastropod 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 ...
s in the family
Hydrocenidae
Hydrocenidae is a taxonomic family of minute land snails or cave snails with an operculum, terrestrial gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the clade Cycloneritimorpha.
Hydrocenidae are widespread across the Palearctis and Africa, but r ...
.
Description
The globosely turbinate shell of adult snails is 2.1–2.4 mm in height, with a diameter of 1.7–2 mm, with deeply impressed
sutures. It is smooth, glossy and pale golden-brown in colour. The
umbilicus is closed. The ovately lunate aperture has an
operculum.
Distribution and habitat
This terrestrial and freshwater species occurs on
Australia's
Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...
in the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...
, where it is rare and found mainly on the slopes of
Mount Gower
Mount Gower (also known as Big Hill), is the highest mountain on Australia's subtropical Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. With a height of above sea level, and a relatively flat summit plateau, it stands at the southern end of Lord Howe, just ...
and
Mount Lidgbird
Mount Lidgbird, also Mount Ledgbird and Big Hill, is located in the southern section of Lord Howe Island, just north of Mount Gower, from which it is separated by the saddle at the head of Erskine Valley, and has its peak at above sea level.
...
in leaf litter and cliff crevices.
References
Hydrocenidae
Gastropods of Lord Howe Island
Vulnerable fauna of Australia
Gastropods described in 1944
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxa named by Tom Iredale
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