Bothriembryontid Snails are air breathing Gastropod Molluscs found in the Southern Hemisphere and thought to have originated on the ancient Gondwana Supercontinent. Different genera within the group are found on different continents, for example Prestonella is found in Southern Africa, Bothriembryon in Australia and Placostylus on New Zealand and nearby islands.
In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 14 April 2016, Corey Whisson of the Western Australian Museum and School of Veterinary and Life Sciences at Murdoch University and Abraham Breure of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences describe a new species of the Australian Bothriembryontid genus Bothriembryon from the southern coast of Western Australia.
The new species is named Bothriembryon sophiarum, in honour of Sophie Jade Whisson the daughter of Corey Whisson and also Sophie J. Breure, wife of Abraham Breure. Adult specimens of the species have a slender, turret-shaped shell 4.7-6.7 mm in width and 12.7-24.4 mm in height, with 6.2-8.5 whorls, with sculpted ribs on these whorls.
Bothriembryon sophiarum. (A–D) Whole specimen (H = 14.4 mm). (E) Protoconch and early teleoconch sculpture; scale line 0.5 mm. Whisson & Breure (2016).
The Snails were found on coastal scrunb above limestone cliffs and associated slopes. In dry conditions they remained in cracks between stones, but in wetter conditions they were observed crawling on the surface of rocks.
Typical habitat of Bothriembryon sophiarum. Whisson & Breure (2016).
See also...
Stemmatopsis nangphaiensis & Stemmatopsis vanhoensis: Two new species of terrestrial Snails from Vietnam. Terrestrial Snails of the
family Streptaxidae are widely distributed in South America, Africa
and Asia...
A new species of Diapherid Snail from Son La Province in northwestern Vietnam. Diapherid Snails are
small terrestrial Snails found in India, China, Japan, South Korea,
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Vietnam.
There are about 100 species, which can be cylindrical, ovoid or hire
spired, and are split into two genera, Diaphera, in which the
final whorl is partially detached, and Sinoennea in which it
is fully attached.
Pearsonia lamphunensis: A new species of Cyclophorid Land Snail from Thailand. Cyclophorid Land Snails are the
most abundant group of terrestrial operculate Gastropods (Land Snails having an
operculum, a lid which can be used to plug the shell opening) in Africa, Asia
and Australia, and comprise 53...
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