''Scutalus phaeocheilus'' is a species of tropical 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

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 in the family

Bulimulidae Bulimulidae is a taxonomic family of medium-sized to large, air-breathing, tropical and sub-tropical land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Orthalicoidea.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bulimulidae Tryon, ...

Subspecies

* ''Scutalus phaeocheilus altoensis'' Breure & Mogollón Avila, 2010

Scutalus phaeocheilus altoensis locality

Distribution

* PeruBreure A. S. H. & Mogollón Avila V. (2010). "Well-known and little-known: miscellaneous notes on Peruvian Orthalicidae (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora)". ''

Zoologische Mededelingen ''Zoologische Mededelingen'' was a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal publishing papers and monographs on animal systematics. The publisher was the National Museum of Natural History Naturalis in the Netherlands. The first issue appeared ...

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HTM
''Scutalus phaeocheilus phaeocheilus'' occurs in south of the Lambayeque Region.

Description

When describing the nominate taxon, Haas already noted the relationship with ''

Scutalus proteiformis ''Scutalus'' is a genus of air-breathing land snails, a terrestrial animal, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Bulimulidae.Breure A. S. H. & Romero P. (2012). "Support and surprises: molecular phylogeny of the land snail super ...

''. He stated that this species ‘seems to lack the granules entirely’. According to

Pilsbry Henry Augustus Pilsbry (7 December 1862 – 26 October 1957) was an American biologist, malacologist and carcinologist, among other areas of study. He was a dominant presence in many fields of invertebrate taxonomy for the better part of a centu ...

(1897), who copied the original description, the ‘granulation sconfined to the last whorl’. However, ''Scutalus phaeocheilus altoensis'' is smaller and slightly stouter than ''Scutalus proteiformis'' and is also slightly more granulose than this species, especially visible in fresh specimens. Moreover, ''Scutalus proteiformis'' is said to have the aperture dark brown coloured. ''Scutalus proteiformis'' species, which has not been figured, was mentioned by Weyrauch (1967)Weyrauch W. K. (1967). "Treinta y ocho nuevos gastrópodos terrestres de Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brasil y Perú". '' Acta Zoologica Lilloana'' 21: 343-455. from northern Peru without further information.

Scutalus phaeocheilus altoensis

The subspecific name ''altoensis'' refers to El Alto, the type locality. ''Scutalus phaeocheilus altoensis'' is characterized by the whitish colour, the sculpture of growth striae and inconspicuous granules on the last whorl, the broadly expanded lip and the orange colour of the aperture inside. The height of the shell is up to 38.1 mm, 1.71 times as long as wide, deeply perforated, conical, with slightly convex sides and solid. Colour is uniformly (greyish-)whitish, the upper

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral d ...

somewhat lighter in greyish-white specimens. The surface is lustreless, with incrassate growth striae and inconspicuous granulation, under a strong lens visible as spiral rows of shallowly raised, short oblong granules; only in fresh specimens this granulation may be observed on the third and following whorls.

Protoconch A protoconch (meaning first or earliest or original shell) is an embryonic or larval shell which occurs in some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod. In older texts it is also called ...

is pit-reticulate. The shell has 5.7-6 whorls, that are somewhat convex. Suture is impressed, crenulated, at the aperture ascending in front. Aperture is large, ovate, in fresh shells orange inside; margins converging; 1.33 times as long as wide, 0.73 times the total height. Peristome broadly expanded and reflexed, whitish. Columellar margin straight, broadly expanded and merging into the parietal callus, which is whitish and thickened in some specimens. The width of the shell is 19.9 - 22.7 mm. The height of the shell is 34.3 - 38.1 mm. The width of the aperture is 14.2 – 17 mm. The height of the aperture is 19.3 - 22.8 mm. The height of the last whorl is 25.1 – 28 mm. The holotype of ''Scutalus phaeocheilus altoensis'' has 5.8 whorls and dimension of holotype are as follows: The width of the shell is 21.4 mm. The height of the shell is 37.2 mm. The width of the aperture is 14.6 mm. The height of the aperture is 19.5 mm. The height of the last whorl is 25.9 mm. ''Scutalus phaeocheilus altoensis'' differs from ''Scutalus phaeocheilus phaeocheilus'' by (1) being slightly smaller, (2) having the lip more broadly expanded and (3) having the aperture differently coloured (the nominate taxon has the aperture liver-coloured).

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-3.0 text from the reference {{Taxonbar, from=Q7439553 Bulimulidae Gastropods described in 1955