Pupilla alpicola

Pupilla alpicola
Conservation status
NE[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Orthurethra
Superfamily: Pupilloidea
Family: Pupillidae
Genus: Pupilla
Species: P. alpicola
Binomial name
Pupilla alpicola
(Charpentier, 1837)[2]
Synonyms

Pupa (Sphyradium) alpicola Charpentier, 1837

Pupilla alpicola is a species of minute air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Pupillidae.

Contents

Description

Shell slightly larger than Pupilla muscorum, with slightly more prominent growth lines, around 6 not very convex whorls, apex flat (contrast to Pupilla muscorum and Pupilla pratensis), apertural lip weak, cervical callus weak, usually no teeth, occasionally a weak parietal tooth, presence of a characteristic gutter-like depression in the external surface of the last whorl, at about 1/4 of the distance from its base (in oblique light visible in the aperture as a narrow, delicate ridge).[3]

The height of the shell is 2.8-3.3 mm. The width of the shell is 1.75-1.8 mm.[3]

Distribution

Distribution of Pupilla alpicola include Alps and Carpathians.[3] Pupilla alpicola has scattered distribution, it is rare.[3] Most of its habitats are close to alpine diaries, that is implying a danger.[3]

Pupilla alpicola has been listed as a part of fauna of the Czech Republic for a long time (as probably extinct in Bohemia and critically endangered (CR) in Moravia).[8] After very similar taxon Pupilla pratensis was elevated to its species level in 2009,[4] the revision showed that Pupilla alpicola does not live in the Czech Republic and all of them are Pupilla pratensis in that country.[9]

Ecology

Pupilla alpicola occur In moss of wet meadows in high alpine regions, mostly in calcareous fens.[3] In Switzerland between 900 and 2500 m altitude.[3]

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference [3].

  1. ^ 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Cited 23 June 2007.
  2. ^ Charpentier J. de (1837). "Catalogue des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles de la Suisse. Formant la seconde partie de la faune Helvétique". Neue Denkschriften der Allgemeinen Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für die Gesammten Naturwissenschaften - Nouveaux Mémoires de la Société Helvétique des Sciences Naturelles 1(2): 1-28, Tab. I-II [= 1-2]. Neuchatel. page 16.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Species summary for Pupilla alpicola". AnimalBase. Last modified 30-01-2010, accessed 30 July 2010.
  4. ^ a b von Proschwitz T., Schander C. , Jueg U. & Thorkildsen S. (2009). "Morphology, ecology and DNA-barcoding distinguish Pupilla pratensis (Clessin, 1871) from Pupilla muscorum (Linnaeus, 1758) (Pulmonata: Pupillidae)". Journal of Molluscan Studies 75(4): 315-322. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyp038.
  5. ^ Beata M. Pokryszko. "Pupilla alpicola (Charpentier, 1837)". Instytut Ochrony Przyrody Polskiej Akademii Nauk. http://www.iop.krakow.pl/pckz/opis.asp?id=241&je=pl. . accessed 30 July 2010.
  6. ^ (Polish) Alexandrowicz S. W. (1992). "Nowy dla fauny polskiej gatunek ślimaka Pupilla alpicola na zagrożonym stanowisku w Niedzicy". Chrońmy przyr. ojcz. 48: 5-11.
  7. ^ Alexandrowicz S. W. (1994). "Pupilla alpicola (Charpentier, 1837) from Niedzica". Geologia 20: 325-331.
  8. ^ "Red List of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic". accessed 30 July 2010.
  9. ^ (Czech) Škodová J. & Horsák M. (2010). "Zrnovka slatinná (Pupilla pratensis (Clessin, 1871), Gastropoda) - staronový druh našich mokřadů. In: Bryja J. & Zasadil P. (eds.) Zoologické dny Praha 2010. Sborník abstraktů z konference 11.-12. února 2010. Ústav biologie obratlovců AV ČR, Brno, ISBN 978-80-87189-07-8. Pages 214-215.