''Noricella oreinos'' 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 small, 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 Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

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

Hygromiidae Hygromiidae is a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea. Helicellidae Ihering, 1909 Anatomy Some snails in genera within this family create ...

, the hairy snails and their allies.MolluscaBase (2018). Noricella oreinos (Wagner, 1915). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1247413 on 2019-01-14 This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. This hairy-shelled snail was once confused with ''

Trochulus hispidus ''Trochulus hispidus'', previously known as ''Trichia hispida'', common name, the "hairy snail", is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Hygromiidae, the hairy snails and their allies. ...

'', which it superficially resembles and therefore assigned to the genus Trochulus. Later on was moved to an own Genus ''

Noricella ''Noricella'' is a genus of small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Hygromiidae, the hairy snails and their allies.MolluscaBase (2018). Noricella Neiber, Razkin & Hausdorf, 201 ...

''.Neiber, M., Razkin, O. & Hausdorf, B. 2017. Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the land snail family Hygromiidae (Gastropoda: Helicoidea). Molecular Genetics and Evolution, 111: 169–184. Its former subspecies ''Noricella oreinos scheerpeltzi'' was elevated to species level Bamberger, S., Duda, M., Tribsch, A.,Haring, E., Sattmann, H., Macek, O., Affenzeller, M. & Kruckenhauser, L. 2020. Genome-wide nuclear data confirm two species in the Alpine endemic land snail ''Noricella oreinos'' s.l.Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 58: 982-1004 https://doi.org/10.1111/jzs.12362 and therefore the Genus ''Noricella'' consists of two species now.

Taxonomy

''Noricella oreinos'' comprised originally two subspecies: ''N. o. oreinos'' (Wagner, 1915) in

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

and

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

and ''N. o. scheerpeltzi'' (Mikula, 1954) in

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

. Both taxa were originally described as regional subspecies of ''

''.Wagner, A.J. 1915. Beiträge zur Anatomie und Systematik der Stylomatophoren aus dem Gebiet der Monarchie und der angrenzenden Balkanländer. Denkschriften der Österrerreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse), 91: 429–498.Mikula, E. 1957. Trochulus hispidus scheerpeltzi n. Subsp. Archiv für Molluskenkunde, 86: 91–92. Later these two subspecies were split from ''Trochulus hispidus'' and placed in a separate species because of differences in hair

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

.Falkner, G. 1982. Zur Problematik der Gattung Trichia(Pulmonata, Helicidae) in Mitteleuropa. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Malakologischen Gesellschaft, 3: 30–33.Falkner, G. 1995. Beiträge zur Nomenklatur europäischer Binnenmollusken, VII. Nomenklaturnotizen zu europäischen Hygromiidae (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). Heldia. Münchner malakologische Mitteilungen, 2: 97–107. Current comprehensive research,Duda, M. Sattmann, H., Haring, E., Bartel, D., Winkler, H., Harl, J. & Kruckenhauser. 2010. Genetic Differentiation and Shell Morphology of Trochulus oreinos (Wagner, 1915) and T. hispidus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Pulmonata: Hygromiidae) in the Northeastern Alps.
Journal of Molluscan Studies 2010; Duda, M., Kruckenhauser L., Sattmann, H., Harl, J., Jaksch, K. & Haring, E., 2014. Differentiation in the Trochulus hispidus complex and related taxa (Pulmonata: Hygromiidae): Morphology, ecology and their relation to phylogeography
Journal of Molluscan Studies 2014; based on molecular, morphological and ecological analyses, confirm this split from ''T. hispidus''. Additionally it was already pointed out that both taxa represent separated

mitochondrial A mitochondrion (; ) is an organelle found in the cells of most Eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is use ...

lines and different internal genital morphology although there do exist intermediate forms concerning shell morphology. A more detailed genetical study confirmed that there was almost no gene flow between the two taxa, not even in regions were they coexist, which justifies the split into separate species.

Description

''Noricella oreinos'' can be separated from other representatives of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

''Trochulini'' by its small, curled hairs, which have a length of 0.03–0.09 mm. Like the other representatives of this tribe, older individuals and empty shells have often lost the hairs on the shell. The shell is flat to slightly globular, and the shell width is . Other marks are irregular, coarse ridges on the shell and an internal rib with a basal tooth in the

peristome Peristome (from the Greek ''peri'', meaning 'around' or 'about', and ''stoma'', 'mouth') is an anatomical feature that surrounds an opening to an organ or structure. Some plants, fungi, and shelled gastropods have peristomes. In mosses In mosses, ...

, visible as yellow structure from the outside. The shell of the sister species ''N. o. scheerpeltzi'' is characterized by a groove beneath the keel, but there are intermediate forms between the two taxa with an incomplete or weakly developed groove. While the gross anatomy of the reproductive system is similar to that of the genus ''

Trochulus ''Trochulus'' is a genus of small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the subfamily subfamily Trochulininae of the family Hygromiidae, the hairy snails and their allies. Taxonomy ''Trichia'' Hartmann, 1840 is ...

'' and its congener ''N. scheerpeltzi'', ''Noricella oreinos'' can be unambiguously differentiated by the internal fold pattern of the penis.

Habitat and distribution

''Noricella oreinos'' inhabits primarily boulders,

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ha ...

s and alpine grassland, especially alpine meadows with patchy vegetation coverage, dominated by the

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

species ''

Carex firma ''Carex firma'' is a species of sedge that grows in the mountains of southern and central Europe. Description ''Carex firma'' forms thick cushions. Its leaves are up to long in normal conditions (up to in moist, sheltered localities), dark gr ...

'', in the

Northern Calcareous Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (german: Nördliche Kalkalpen), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany. ...

. Its vertical distribution reaches from the lower subalpine regions to the alpine

ecotone An ecotone is a transition area between two biological communities, where two communities meet and integrate. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local (the zone between a field and forest) or regional (the transition between forest and gras ...

, i.e. elevations of .Klemm, W. 1974. Die Verbreitung der rezenten Land-Gehäuse-Schnecken in Österreich. Denkschriften der Österrerreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse), 117: 1–503Reischütz, A. & Reischütz, P. L. 2009. Mollusca (Weichtiere). In: Endemiten – Kostbarkeiten in Österreichs Pflanzen- und Tierwelt. (W. Rabitsch & F. Essl, eds.), pp. 318–376. Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein für Kärnten & Umweltbundesamt GmbH, Klagenfurt & Wien The distribution range reaches from Schneeberg mountain in

Totes Gebirge The Totes Gebirge is a group of mountains in Austria, part of the Northern Limestone Alps, lying between the Salzkammergut and the Ennstaler Alpen. The name ''Totes Gebirge'' is derived from the German words ''tot'' meaning "dead", referring to ...

. Like the helicid snail ''

Cylindrus obtusus ''Cylindrus obtusus'' is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helicidae, the typical snails. This species is endemic to Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Rep ...

'', this species is suspected to be an ancient native East-alpine

, which survived the glacial times on ice-free parts of the north-eastern alpine margins.

References

External links

''Trochulus oreinos''
at AnimalBase {{Taxonbar, from=Q609456 Hygromiidae Fauna of Austria Gastropods described in 1915 Endemic fauna of Austria Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN