Underestimated diversity of hydrobiid snails. The case of<i>Pseudamnicola (Corrosella)</i>(Mollusca: Caenogastropoda: Hydrobiidae)

Abstract

The freshwater gastropod genus Pseudamnicola Paulucci, 1878 Paulucci, M. 1878. Matériaux pour servir à l’étude de la faune malacologique terrestre et fluviatile de l´Italie et de ses isles, Paris: Librairie F. Savy, 54. [Google Scholar] belongs to the family Hydrobiidae Stimpson, 1865 and has been cited in Europe, Africa and Asia. The Ibero-Balearic region is considered one of the areas showing the greatest diversity of hydrobiids although few works have provided complete morphological descriptions. Seven Pseudamnicola species have been described based only on shells and some features of the male and female genitalia. This paper provides the largest set of anatomical and morphological data currently available for hydrobiids and describes five new species of Pseudamnicola (Corrosella) from the Iberian Peninsula: P. (C.) manueli sp. nov., P. (C.) bareai sp. nov., P. (C.) marisolae, sp. nov., P. (C.) iruritai sp. nov. and P. (C.) andalusica sp. nov. Two further species, P. (C.) luisi Boeters, 1984 Boeters, HD. 1984. Unbekannte westeuropäische Prosobranchia, 6. Heldia, 1(1): 9–11. [Google Scholar] and P. (C.) falkneri (Boeters, 1970 Boeters, HD. 1970. Corrosella n. gen. (Prosobranchia: Hydrobiidae). J Conchiliol., 108(3): 63–69. [Google Scholar]), whose distribution areas overlap, are re-described for comparison. The new species are morphologically well differentiated, the most satisfactory characters being female and male genitalia, radula and nervous system, and are well supported by molecular data, with genetic distances between 5.39 and 11.15% for the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit I sequence. All the species inhabit a mountain region whose tectonic episodes are here invoked to explain the creation of an area of endemisms.