Vespericola

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Vespericola
Vespericola columbiana from W. G. Binney, 1878
Vespericola columbiana
from W. G. Binney, 1878 [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Pulmonata
Suborder: Eupulmonata
Infraorder: Stylommatophora
Parvorder: Sigmurethra
Superfamily: Helicoidea
Family: Polygyridae
Genus: Vespericola
Pilsbry 1939
Vespericola armigera
Vespericola armigera

Vespericola is a genus of land snail in the family Polygyridae. They are found along the Pacific coast of North America, from southern Alaska and British Columbia to California. The shells of these small to medium, globose or depressed globose snails are usually some shade of brown, sometimes without aperatural teeth and sometimes with a single tooth on the parietal wall. Small periostracal hairs may be observed on the shell surface of many specimens, but the shells, otherwise, resemble those of Praticolella or Mesodon. [2]

According to Pilsbry (1940), Vespericola "differs from all other Polygyridae by the possession of a well developed though rather short verge, and by the peculiar shape of the epiphallus". [3]

The following species and subspecies are included in this genus: [2] [4]

  • Vespericola armigera (Ancey, 1881); Santa Cruz hesperian
  • Vespericola columbiana (I. Lea, 1838); northwest hesperian
  • Vespericola columbiana depressa (Pilsbry & Henderson, 1936)
  • Vespericola columbiana latilabrum Pilsbry, 1940
  • Vespericola eritrichius (Berry, 1939); velvet hesperian
  • Vespericola hapla (Berry, 1933); Butte Creek hesperian
  • Vespericola karokorum Talmadge, 1962; Karok hesperian
  • Vespericola klamathicus Roth and W. B. Miller, 1995; Klamath hesperia
  • Vespericola marinensis Roth and W. B. Miller, 1993; Marin hesperian
  • Vespericola megasoma (Pilsbry, 1928); redwood hesperian
  • Vespericola megasoma euthales (Berry, 1939)
  • Vespericola oria (Berry, 1933); El Dorado hesperian
  • Vespericola pilosa (Henderson, 1928; brushfield hesperian
  • Vespericola pinicola (Berry, 1916); Monterey hesperian
  • Vespericola pressleyi Roth, 1985; Big Bar hesperian
  • Vespericola rothi Cordero and W. B. Miller, 1995; Ellery Creek hesperian
  • Vespericola scotti Cordero and W. B. Miller, 1995; Benson Gulch hesperian
  • Vespericola shasta (Berry, 1921); Shasta hesperian
  • Vespericola sierrana (Berry, 1921); Siskiyou hesperian


[edit] References

  1. ^ Binney, William G. (1878). The Terrestrial Air-Breathing Mollusks of the United States and Adjacent Territories of North America. Vol. 5 (plates). Bull. Mus. Comparative Zool., Harvard. Plate 13a.
  2. ^ a b Pilsbry, Henry A. 1940. Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico). Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monograph 3, vol. 1(2): 892-912.
  3. ^ Pilsbry, Henry A. 1940. Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico). Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monograph 3, vol. 1(2): 892.
  4. ^ [1] Vespericola at ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System); accessed 5 Feb. 2008.