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Redescription of Orculella aragonica (Westerlund 1897), an Iberian species different from O. Bulgarica (Hesse 1915) (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Orculidae)

Arrebola Burgos, José Ramón; Razkin, O.; Gómez Moliner, B.; Páll-Gergely, B.

Abstract

Orculella bulgarica (Hesse 1915) has been recorded from Bulgaria and western Asia, including Turkey, but has also been reported from Spain by several authors. Most studies on this species have been on subfossil shells. Recent findings of living populations in Turkey and Spain have allowed us to report on the reproductive system morphology and mtDNA sequences of this taxon. Despite the apparent lack of conchological differences between specimens from these two geographical areas, this new information revealed the presence of two species. Review of the literature pertaining to Iberian orculids, led us to conclude that the examined population in Spain species must be assigned to Orculella aragonica (Westerlund 1897), and all previous reports of O. bulgarica from the Iberian Peninsula should be ascribed to the former. This species is redescribed and diagnosed herein, highlighting differences between it and O. bulgarica. Some notes about its conservation status and biogeographic origin are also provided.

Full text

NORTH-WESTERN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY 8 (2): 292-299 ©NwjZ, O adea, Romania, 2012 A icle No.: 121126 h p://biozoojou nals.3x. o/nwjz/index.h ml Redesc ip ion o O culella a agonica (Wes e lund 1897), an Ibe ian species di e en om O. bulga ica (Hesse 1915) (Gas opoda: Pulmona a: O culidae) José ARRÉBOLA1, Oihana RAZKIN2, Benjamín GÓMEZ-MOLINER2 and Ba na PÁLL-GERGELY3,* 1. Depa amen o de Zoología. Fac. Biología. Uni e sidad de Se illa. A da. Reina Me cedes, 6. 41012-Se illa, Spain. 2. Depa amen o de Zoología y Biología Celula Animal, Facul ad de Fa macia y Cen o de Es udios A anzados CIEA; Uni e sidad del País Vasco, UPV/EHU, Vi o ia (Ala a), Spain. 3. Depa men o Biology, Shinshu Uni e si y, Ma sumo o 390-8621, Japan. * Co esponding au ho , B. Páll-Ge gely, E-mail: [email p o ec ed] Recei ed: 21. Feb ua y 2011 / Accep ed: 02. June 2012 / A ailable online: 11. June 2012 / P in ed: Decembe 2012 Abs ac . O culella bulga ica (Hesse 1915) has been eco ded om Bulga ia and wes e n Asia, including Tu key, bu has also been epo ed om Spain by se e al au ho s. Mos s udies on his species ha e been on sub ossil shells. Recen indings o li ing popula ions in Tu key and Spain ha e allowed us o epo on he ep oduc i e sys em mo phology and m DNA sequences o his axon. Despi e he appa en lack o conchological di e ences be ween specimens om hese wo geog aphical a eas, his new in o ma ion e ealed he p esence o wo species. Re iew o he li e a u e pe aining o Ibe ian o culids, led us o conclude ha he examined popula ion in Spain species mus be assigned o O culella a agonica (Wes e lund 1897), and all p e ious epo s o O. bulga ica om he Ibe ian Peninsula should be asc ibed o he o me . This species is edesc ibed and diagnosed he ein, highligh ing di e ences be ween i and O. bulga ica. Some no es abou i s conse a ion s a us and biogeog aphic o igin a e also p o ided. Key wo ds: O culella a agonica, O culella bulga ica, dis ibu ion, Tu key, Spain, axonomy. In oduc ion O culella bulga ica was desc ibed by Hesse (1915) om “Gebedsche bei Va na” (Bulga ia). Subse- quen au ho s ex ended i s dis ibu ional ange o wo dis an a eas, namely (1) Bulga ia and Wes - e n Asia (A menia, Aze baijan, Russian Fede a- ion, Tu key) (Hausdo 1996) and (2) Spain (Ga - ido e al. 2005, Robles & Ma inez-O í 2009), wi h no eco ds wi hin his b oad dis ibu ional hia us. The s udies we e based on emp y shells ( ossil o “sub ossil”), excep hose collec ed in Bulga ia by U bański in 1960 (Gi enbe ge 1983). The geni al ana omy emained unknown because o he lack o li ing ma e ial. As a esul , Hausdo (1996) ques ioned he gene ic posi ion o O. bulga ica, be- cause O culella and Schileykula could only be dis- inguished on he basis o he geni al s uc u e, namely (mainly) he p esence (O culella) o ab- sence (Schileykula) o a penial appendix (see also Páll-Ge gely 2011). The Ibe ian O culella has been p e iously as- signed o Pupa dolium D apa naud 1801, Pupa dolium a . plagios oma, Sandbe ge 1875, Pupa dolium a . no a Wes e lund (in Calde on 1897), O cula dolium o ma a agonica Wes e lund 1897 and O cula plagios oma (Sandbe ge ) (in B un- nacke & Ložek 1969). The known locali ies we e compiled by Gi enbe ge (1983) Gómez-Moline (1988), Ga ido e al. (2005) and Robles & Ma i- nez-O í (2009). Gi enbe ge (1983) compa ed Ibe ian O culella o O. bulga ica om Bulga ia, concluding ha hey we e conspeci ic on he basis o conchological cha ac e s. The shells om bo h a eas show a p o- oconch mic osculp u e o i egula spi al idges and he p esence o a pala al lamella in body who l o ju eniles, bu lacking in adul s. Mo e e- cen ly, Hausdo (1996) dis inguished O. bulga ica lamella a (li ing in sou heas e n Tu key) om O. b. bulga ica on he basis o well-de eloped lamella in adul shells. Ga ido e al. (2005) disco e ed ou ex an popula ions o he Ibe ian O culella in G anada P o ince (sou he n Ibe ian Peninsula). They de- sc ibed he pe ios acum o li e-collec ed ju enile shells ( hin, oblique ibs in he shape o pla ele s which a e los in he adul shells), as well as he ep oduc i e ana omy. The la e con i med he gene ic posi ion o he species wi hin he genus O culella. Based on eco ds spanning se e al million yea s in age (Plio-Pleis ocene o Recen ), Robles & Ma inez-O í (2009) concluded ha he species was o me ly widely dis ibu ed along he eas e n hal o he Ibe ian Peninsula, bu i s geog aphical Redesc ip ion o O culella a agonica 293 ange was signi ican ly educed ecen ly. Gi en- be ge (1983) and P eece (1991) published de ailed in e p e a ions o his dis ibu ional con ac ion. A he p esen ime, h ee o he ou li ing popu- la ions ecen ly disco e ed by Ga ido e al. (2005) in Andalusia ha e become ex inc , bu se en new popula ions ha e been disco e ed a e in ense sea ching in he su ounding a eas (A ébola & Ga ido 2008, A ébola in p ep.). We ha e also ound a small li ing popula ion o O. bulga ica bulga ica in no heas e n Tu key. This allowed us o compa e specimens om he wo dis an geog aphic loca ions h ough analysis o shell and ep oduc i e sys em mo phology, and DNA sequences in o de o cla i y he sys ema ic posi ion o he Spanish popula ions. Ma e ial and me hods Samples Samples om di e en locali ies in sou he n Spain (see Ma e ial Examined and Table 1 o desc ip ions) and one locali y in Tu key we e used o mo phological s udies o he shell and ep oduc i e sys em. The Spanish locali y habi a s we e desc ibed by Ga ido e al. (2005). The Tu kish locali y was a we , ma shy bank o a s eam, whe e specimens we e c awling on he g ound o on de- caying plan s among dense ege a ion. The specimens a e deposi ed in he collec ions o he Zoology Depa men o Se ille Uni e si y (Se ille), Na u al His o y Museum o Valencia and in he p i a e collec ion o he las au ho (Mosonmagya ó á , Hunga y). Specimens o O. a agonica (6) and O. bulga ica (2) we e p ese ed in 96% e hanol and used o molecula s udies (Table 1). Fi e Spanish (P1, P5, P6) and wo Tu kish specimes we e dissec ed. Abb e ia ions used in he ex : H: shell heigh NHMW: Na u his o isches Musem, Wien (Vienna, Aus- ia) DNA isola ion DNA was isola ed om he oo o each snail using he Qiagen DNeasy Blood & Tissue Ki acco ding o he manu ac u e ’s ins uc ions. DNA Ampli ica ion and Sequencing Polyme ase chain eac ion (PCR) was used o ampli y wo mi ochond ial gene agmen s, cy och ome oxidase sub- uni I (COI) and 16S RNA (16S) using uni e sal p ime s (Folme e al. 1994, Palumbi e al. 1994, espec i ely). The PCR ampli ica ions we e conduc ed in 23 μl e- ac ions con aining 2 μl dilu ed DNA, 2 μl dNTP (2.5 mM), 1.25 μl MgCl2 (50 mM), 2.5 μl NH4 bu e 10X, 0.5 μl o each p ime (0.25 mM), 0.25 μl Taq Polyme ase (5 U/μl) and 1 μl o BSA (10mg/ml). We used a Bio ad iCycle he mal cycle wi h he ollowing cycling condi ions: an ini ial dena u a ion s ep a 96 ºC o 1 min; 35 cycles o dena u ing a 94 ºC o 30 s, annealing a 51 ºC o COI o 56 ºC o 16S o 30 s and ex ending a 72 ºC o 1 min; and a inal ex ending s ep a 72 ºC o 10 min. Reac ions we e held a 4 ºC. PCR p oduc s we e un in 1.5% aga ose gels s ained wi h GelRed, o e i y he ampli ica ions. Amplicons we e sequenced using he BigDye Te mina o Ki 1.1 (Applied Biosys ems) in an ABI PRISM Model 3100 A an Gene ic Analyze . The sequences we e accessioned in o GenBank (Table 1). DNA sequences Analysis Sequences we e aligned using CLUSTALX 1.81 (Thomp- son e al. 1997) and hen manually adjus ed o minimize misma ches. The COI and 16S RNA sequences we e con- ca ena ed in o a single da ase o phylogene ic analyses. Pupilla musco um (Linnaeus 1758) was used as ou g oup (sequences a ailable in GenBank wi h accession numbe s GQ921664.1 o COI and GQ921551.1 o 16S RNA). Phylogene ic econs uc ions using PAUP 4.0b3 (Swo o d 2002) we e pe o med by a dis ance me hod using he neighbou -joining algo i hm (NJ) (Sai ou & Nei 1987). The HKY (Hasegawa e al. 1985) model was se- lec ed as he bes - i model o nucleo ide subs i u ion o he molecula da a se by he Akaike in o ma ion c i e ia app oach using Model es 3.6 (Posada & C andall 1998). The obus ness o he ees was assessed by boo s ap e- sampling (1000 eplica ions o NJ analysis; Felsens ein 1985). We also pe o med a Bayesian analysis (BA) using M Bayes 3.0b4 (Huelsenbeck & Ronquis 2001). The Ma ko Chain Mon e Ca lo (MCMC) sea ch was pe - o med using ou chains o 2.5 million gene a ions and using he mos sui able model de e mined by Model es . Bayesian pos e io p obabili ies we e picked om he 50% majo i y ule consensus o ees sampled e e y 100 gene a ions ( he i s 2000 ees we e disca ded as “bu n in”). Unco ec ed pai wise p-dis ances we e calcula ed wi h PAUP . 4.0b10 o he COI, 16S and conca ena ed da ase (leng h 635, 486 and 1121 nucleo ides, espec- i ely). These dis ances we e in e p e ed as pe cen ages. Numbe o m DNA haplo ypes (H), haplo ype di e - si y (Hd), nucleo ide di e si y (π) and numbe o nucleo- ide di e ences (k) we e calcula ed o he combined da ase using DnaSP 4.10.4 so wa e (Rozas e al. 2003). Resul s - Sys ema ical pa Family O culidae Pilsb y 1918 Genus O culella S eenbe g 1925 O culella a agonica (Wes e lund 1897) Ma e ial Examined (P= popula ions o O. a a- gonica) ( o al/dissec ed/DNA analyzed speci- mens): P1 (393/03/00) Rambla de la Viña sp ing, 940 m asl, 30SVG8029. P3 (12/00/01): 1400 m sou h om Ba io los Pa ales (Lope a) (Po e a sp ing), 940 m asl, 30SVG7829. P5 (08/01/00): 325 m S-SE om Co ijo la Ca asca, 1417 m asl, J. A ébola e al. 294 Table 1. Species abb e ia ions, geog aphical coo dina es (UTM g id e e ences) and Genbank accession numbe s. Sample U.T.M._1km GenBank accession numbe s COI / 16S 1-O.bulga ica* JQ765693 / JQ765685 2-O.bulga ica* JQ765694 / JQ765686 3-O.a agonica P6a 30SVG6818 JQ765695 / JQ765687 4-O.a agonica P9 30SVG6523 JQ765700 / JQ765692 5-O.a agonica P6b 30SVG6818 JQ765696 / JQ765688 6-O.a agonica P8 30SVG6020 JQ765699 / JQ765691 7-O.a agonica P3 30SVG7829 JQ765697 / JQ765689 8-O.a agonica P7 30SWG2354 JQ765698 / JQ765690 *O. bulga ica specimens: Tu key, on he bo de s o il. E zu um and il. E zincan, s eam nea Te can üneli ( unnel), 39°50'25.36"N, 40°34'0.56"E, leg. Páll-Ge gely, B., 05.07.2010. Figu e 1. Shells o O culella species. A: O culella a agonica (Wes e lund 1897) 325 m S-SE om Co ijo la Ca asca, 1417 m asl, 30SWG0938, H= 7,94 mm B: O culella a agonica, labelled as O cula dolium plagios oma, Spain, P o . G a- nada, Gal a, Coll. Klemm, leg. Falkne 1968, NHMW 60920, H= 6.5 mm; C: O culella bulga ica bulga ica (Hesse 1915) Tu key, on he bo de o il. E zu um and il. E zincan, Te can üneli, s eam nea he unnel, 39°50'25.36"N, 40°34'0.56"E, leg. Páll-Ge gely, B., 5.7.2010, NHMW ALSV6606, H=6.6 mm; D: O culella bulga ica bulga ica (Hesse 1915), Tu key, Gaybi, 15km SW E egli, Coll. Klemm, leg. Ressl 10.6.1965, de . B. Hausdo 1989, NHMW 55500. H= 6.8 mm; E: O culella bulga ica lamella a Hausdo 1996, pa a ype, Tu key, Yesilyu , Coll. Klemm, leg. Ressl 2.6.1965, de . B. Hausdo 1992, NHMW 55531, H= 7.7 mm. 30SWG0938. P6 (14/01/02): sp ing on Ba anco de las Ramillas, 1431 m asl, 30SVG6818. P7 (21/00/01): 400 m NW om Co ijo del Oli a , 730 m asl, 30SWG2354. P8 (18/00/01): Collado de Pue o Blanco, 1400 m asl, 30SVG6020. P9 (13/00/01): La To e sp ing, 1364 m asl; 30SVG6523. Shell (Fig. 1A): Conical-o al in shape, da k b own in colou and somewha anslucen . P o oconch wi h 1 ½ o 1 ¾ who ls and mic osculp u e o ine, i egula , spi al idges on he su ace, mo e accen- ua ed a he pe iphe y, bu absen in he eleo- conch. 7 ¼ o 9 ¼ slowly and egula ly g owing, sligh ly con ex who ls wi h shallow su u e. Las who l sligh ly aised nea he pe is ome and la ge han he p e ious one. Shell su ace pa ly co e ed wi h dense, ine, ans e se ibs. The umbilicus is Redesc ip ion o O culella a agonica 295 elonga ed, na ow and shallow. Ape u e mo e o less ounded, somewha alle han wide. Pe is- ome in e up ed, hickened, wi hou (o wi h a e y weak) pa ie al callosi y and sligh ly e lec ed, especially in he umbilical a ea. Pala al wall sligh ly conca e wi h a c enula ed edge la e ally. Adul s wi h a sho and small pa ie al lamella o igina ing some dis ance om he edge, in e - nally ex ended ½ who l. The deep columella la- mellae a e no always isible in on al iew. Ju- eniles wi h bo h hin columella and pa ie al la- mella in he ape u e, a ounded and deep umbili- cus and sculp u e made up o hin, oblique ibs in he shape o pla ele s which a e los in he adul s ages (see Ga ido e al. 2005). Measu emen s: H=7.24 mm, SD= 0.38 mm (P5, n= 57). H=6.73 mm SD= 0.37 (P1, n= 393). Geni al s uc u e (Fig. 2B): Re ac o muscle o igh omma opho e unning be ween penis and agina. Vagina sho and hick, he penis ela i ely sho , gene ally he p oximal po ion hicke , bu in some specimens he en i e penis is cylind ical (o same wid h). The penial appendix ela i ely long, he i s po ion hicke , he second g adu- ally ape ing o he end. The “penial caecum” is no a ue “caecum”, bu o ms a loop (only isible a high magni ica ion) wi h weak ib es on p oxi- mal po ion (nea dis al end o penis). Re ac o muscle a ached o dis al end o penis, nea base o he “penial caecum”. Epiphallus sligh ly (na - owe ) han penis, na owes a p oximal po ion and slowly ape ing owa ds as de e ens. Bu sa copula ix long and he bu sa i sel is no con- spicuously hickened. Di e en ial diagnosis: O. a agonica has a loop- like “penial caecum” whe eas O. bulga ica has a ue penial caecum and he penis and he epiphal- lus is sho e in O. bulga ica han in O. a agonica (see Fig. 2 and Table 2). Habi a : Gene al da a ob ained om locali ies whe e o adjacen o whe e li ing specimens o O. a agonica we e collec ed sugges ed ha his species has a na ow he moclima ic ole ance, being as- socia ed o humid/sub-humid en i onmen s. The species p e e s hyg ophilous habi a s such as small ma shes; pe manen ly mois and wa e - logged soil habi a s in pe manen eshwa e sp ing a eas associa ed wi h limes one. This spe- cies would be es ic ed o he mois es habi a s in semi-a id a eas du ing he summe mon hs (Ga - ido e al. 2005; A ébola & Ga ido 2008; A ébola in p ep.). Geog aphic ange: Fossil and sub ossil shells o O. a agonica ha e been ound in he eas e n hal o he Ibe ian Peninsula (Robles & Ma inez-O í 2009), bu li ing specimens a e only known om G anada P o ince (Andalusia, sou he n Ibe ian Peninsula). Figu e 2. Male geni al s uc u es o O culella species. A: O culella bulga ica (Hesse 1915) (Tu key, on he bo de o E zu um and E zincan ilaye s, bank o he Te can s eam close o he Te can üneli [ unnel]); B: O culella a agonica (Wes e lund 1897) (Spain, 325 m S-SE om Co ijo la Ca asca). Abb e ia ions: E: epiphallus; P: pe- nis; Pa: penial appendix; Pc: penial caecum. Table 2. Measu emen s (in mm) o some sec ions o he geni alia o O culella a agonica (Wes e lund 1897). (P5: 325 m S-SE om Co ijo la Ca asca; P6: sp ing on Ba - anco de las Ramillas) and O culella bulga ica (Hesse 1915) (Tu key, on he bo de o E zu um and E zincan ilaye s, bank o he Te can s eam close o he Te can üneli [ unnel]). Abb e ia ions: P1: penis un il he junc- ion wi h he penial appendix; P2: penis un il he junc- ion wi h he epiphallus; BC: bu sa copula ix. O he abb e ia ions co espond wi h Figu e 3. P1 P2 E Pc Pa BC O. a agonica P5 1.5 2.4 3.5 0.5 7.7 6.2 O. a agonica P6 1.3 1.9 3.5 0.6 7.0 6.8 O. bulga ica 0.7 1.5 1.6 0.2 6.0 4.2 DNA sequence cha ac e is ics The aligned COI da ase consis ed o 635 bp and 31 (4.88%) cha ac e s we e pa simony in o ma i e. The sequences had a nucleo ide composi ion o : T (38.5%), C (14.7%), A (28.3%) and G (18.5%). J. A ébola e al. 296 Figu e 3. Neighbou -joining ee cons uc ed ollowing he HKY model o he combined da ase o he COI and 16S genes. NJ boo s ap alues and Bayesian pos e io p obabili ies a e shown a each node (NJ/BA). The as e isk indica es a node whe e he BA opology was di e en . The aligned 16S RNA agmen consis ed o 486 bp and 27 (5.56%) cha ac e s we e pa simony in o ma i e. The nucleo ide composi ion was: T (36.4%), C (14.1%), A (33.1%) and G (16.4%). The combined leng h o he wo aligned ag- men s was 1121 bp and 58 (5.17%) cha ac e s we e pa simony in o ma i e. The sequences had a nu- cleo ide composi ion o : T (37.8%), C (14.2%), A (30.4%) and G (17.6%). Phylogene ic analyses The wo me hods o phylogene ic in e ences (NJ and BA) yielded almos he same ee opology. The NJ ee o he conca ena ed da ase is p e- sen ed in Figu e 3 indica ing bo h NJ boo s ap and BA pos e io p obabili ies. The phylogene ic analyses showed wo mo- nophyle ic lineages ha we e s ongly suppo ed. They a e indica ed as A (specimens om Tu key) and B (specimens om Spain). Pai wise sequences di e gence based on unco ec ed p-dis ance be- ween hese clades anged om 5.27% o 5.45% in he conca ena ed da ase . The clade A joined he wo specimens om Tu key and his monophyly was suppo ed by high boo s ap alues and pos e io p obabili y (100%, 100% o NJ, BA). The haplo ype di e si y’s alue (Hd) was 1, because he wo specimens di - e ed om each o he by 1 bp. Clade B g ouped he six specimens collec ed om i e si es in G anada P o ince (sou he n Spain). The numbe o haplo ypes (H) in his clade was 4 and he haplo ype di e si y’s alue (Hd) 0.8. The nucleo ide di e si y’s alue (π) was 0.00328 and he numbe o nucleo ide di e ences (k) 3.67. The specimen O. a agonica P7 was he mos di e en wi hin clade B and he gene ic dis- ance be ween his sample and he o he s om G anada anged om 0.80% o 0.89% in he con- ca ena ed da ase . Collec ion si e o O. a agonica P7 was 67 km away om he o he ou collec ing si es. Discussion Taxonomy Due o he ema kable conchological simila i y be- ween he Ibe ian O culella specimens and O. bul- ga ica (Fig. 1), Gi enbe ge (1983) conside ed hem o be conspeci ic. Pupa/O cula dolium D apa naud was mos commonly employed by p e ious au- ho s o he Ibe ian O culella un il Gi enbe ge (1983). Howe e , O cula dolium is an Alpine- Ca pa hian species (Ke ney e al. 1983) absen om he Ibe ian Peninsula. Pupa dolium a . pla- gios oma (‘B aun’ Sandbe ge 1875) (in Pilsb y 1922-1926, Gi enbe ge 1983) is a smalle o m o O. dolium wi h one o no lamella on he columella (Fig. 1B), ypically ound in loess in Cen al Eu ope (Alsace o Aus ia, Hunga y, Lomba dia, Swi ze land and F ance). Due o simila shell mo phology (Gi enbe ge 1983) and habi a s, B unnacke and Ložek (1969) e oneously em- ployed he name O cula plagios oma o e e o some shells o he Ibe ian O culella ound in he loess o Alme ía. Robles and Ma inez-O í (2009) examined o iginal ma e ial o Pupa dolium a . no a ci ed by Calde on (1897) om Alhama de A agón (no heas e n Ibe ian Peninsula) deposi ed Redesc ip ion o O culella a agonica 297 in he Na ional Museum o Na u al His o y (Ma- d id). These au ho s elega ed his name o he synonymy o O. bulga ica because al hough Calde on (1897) men ioned ha i was a new (“no a”) a ie y o O. dolium he did no o mally name i : “Plica pa ie ali imme se, b e i, enui e plicis columella ibus p o undissimis obsole es dis inc a” (de- ined by Wes e lund 1897). Howe e , Robles and Ma inez-O í (2009) o e looked ha in he same yea Wes e lund (1897: 69) desc ibed and named his axon as a new “ o ma” o O. dolium as ol- lows: “a agonica n., . enuiss. s ia ula, lu escen i- co nea, ap. callo pala ali angus o anslucen e, ube - culo ang. e lam. pa . enui, b e i . b e issima, cae e um eden a e (Hisp., A agonia)”. This desc ip- ion dis inguishes O cula dolium om he Ibe ian O culella ( he only o culid species ac ually known in his a ea), which consequen ly mus be named as O culella a agonica (Wes e lund 1897). Al hough Wes e lund (1897) did no speci y any locali y o a agonica (only he geog aphic egion “A agonia”) he e is no doub ha he ma e ial on which he desc ip ion was made o igina ed om Alhama de A agon and was collec ed by Calde on (1897). Consequen ly, his mus be assigned he ype lo- cali y. On he o he hand, he specimens om he Calde on collec ion deposi ed in Na u al Sciences Museum o Mad id (MNCN): MNCN-15.05/37017 (11 shells) and MNCN-s/n (col. Azpei ia nº 2481) (5 shells) may no ha e been seen by Wes e lund and he e o e can no be conside ed ypes. Since he Ibe ian specimens a e clea ly di e - en om O. bulga ica (Hess 1915) and he co ec name o hese popula ions has been shown o be O. a agonica we p opose o emo e O. bulga ica om he aunal lis o he Ibe ian Peninsula and conside all p e ious eco ds o i in his a ea e - e able o O culella a agonica (Wes e lund 1897). Shell and ep oduc i e sys em mo phology The inding o li e specimens o O. bulga ica om Tu key made he conchological, ana omical and gene ic compa ison o he wo species possible. Acco ding o ou obse a ions, he shell o O. a a- gonica is indis inguishable om O bulga ica bulga- ica (Fig. 1), as i was s a ed by Gi enbe ge (1983). O culella bulga ica lamella a Hausdo 1996 (Fig. 1E) has a much s onge de eloped lamella han O. a agonica and O. bulga ica bulga ica. Some di e - ences can be seen in he ep oduc i e o gans o O. a agonica and O. bulga ica. The la e species has a ue penial caecum, whe eas O. a agonica has a loop-like s uc u e (see Fig. 2). Ga ido e al. (2005) desc ibed he la e ’s ep oduc i e ana omy, bu ailed o men ion he loop-like “penial caecum”. This is unique in O culella and may be o he en- i e O culidae. All o he ana omically known o cu- lids ha e ue penial caeca. We conside his di - e ence subs an ial and ind i su p ising ha no conchological di e ences ha e been ound. The penis and he epiphallus a e sho e in O. bulga ica han in O. a agonica. The measu emen s o some sec ions o he geni alia o he wo species a e compiled in Table 2. Gene ic backg ound Gene ic dis ances wi hin pulmona e gas opod species can p esen a iable alues. Maximal in- aspeci ic 16S RNA gene sequences abo e 10% ha e been epo ed se e al imes: Wa anabe & Chiba 2001: 14% o Euad a quaesi a; Goodac e 2002: 10% o species o he genus Pa ula; Pa - makelis e al. 2003: 21.4% o species o he genus Mas us; Teshima e al. 2003: 23% o Ainohelix edi ha; Pinceel e al. 2005: 21% o species o he genus A ion). Mos es ima es o di e gence a es o s ylomma opho ans anged om 5% o 14% o 16S RNA (Chiba 1999, Hayashi & Chiba 2000, Thacke & Had ield 2000, Van Riel e al. 2005). Bu among closely ela ed species mean gene ic dis- ances can be e y di e en . Fo example a e age COI gene ic dis ances in he wo sis e species Candidula uni ascia a and C. ugosiuscula was 12.5% (P enninge e al. 2003). In Ve igo gouldii COI se- quence di e gences anged om 1.6% o 11.2% (Nekola e al. 2009). In he p esen s udy gene ic dis ances be ween he wo monophyle ic lineages we e 4.88%-5.35% o COI, 5.38%-5.80% o 16S and 5.18%- 5.45% o he conca ena ed da ase . Al hough he wo mo- nophyle ic g oups we e s ongly suppo ed, knowing he gene ic a iabili y ha exis s be ween gas opod species, we canno de e mine i he ob- ained wo clades belong o di e en species bas- ing exclusi ely on gene ic dis ances. Bu aking he ana omical and biogeog aphical c i e ia in o ac- coun , we can conclude ha O culella popula ions om Tu key (and p obably o he neighbou ing a eas) and om he Ibe ian Peninsula (clades A and B o he phylogene ic analysis) a e wo di e - en species. O igin The genus O culella is composed o mo e han 25 species dis ibu ed in he Ibe ian Peninsula, Magh- eb, Sicilia and he eas e n Medi e anean egion J. A ébola e al. 298 (Balkan Region, Ana olia, I an). Ana olia and C e e (12 and 8 species, espec i ely) ha e he highes di e si y (B and 1956, Hausdo 1988, 1996, Schü & Şeşen 1998, Gi enbe ge & Haus- do 2004, Robles & Ma ínez O i 2009, Zilch 1960). This sugges s ha he cen e o o igin o O culella can be placed in he Aegean-Ana olia e- gion, whe e he genus shows he g ea es gene ic di e si y. The ances o o O. bulga ica and O. a a- gonica may ha e li ed in his egion. The O culella dis ibu ional expansion wes o he Ibe ian Penin- sula could ha e occu ed ac oss Eu ope. Ne e - heless, he e a e no ossil eco ds wes o he Bal- kans and, hus, paleon ological da a canno con- i m his hypo hesis (Mania 1995, Esu 1995). By con as , he p esence o O culella in Libya, Sicilia and no he n A ica (B and 1956, Gi enbe ge & Hausdo 2004, Hausdo 1988), sugges s ha he coloniza ion o he Ibe ian Peninsula could ha e occu ed ia he sou he n ma gin o he Medi e - anean Sea. One possibili y is ha his coloniza- ion occu ed a he end o he Pliocene, when he Medi e anean Sea expe ienced a pe iod o in ense desicca ion (Messinian Salini y C isis, 5-6 My BP) (Hsü e al. 1977). The oldes ossils o O culella a a- gonica a e da ed in he Pliocene-Pleis ocene (Al- mena a-Casablanca-1 deposi , 1.8 MY, Robles & Ma ínez-O í 2009, Agus í e al. 2010). Molecula dis ances ob ained in he p esen wo k (abou 5%) also sugges ed a mo e ecen sepa a ion be ween O. a agonica and O. bulga ica. Al hough he e is no calib a ed molecula clock a e a ailable o O - culella o o he closely ela ed gene a, land snails a e suspec ed o ha e as -e ol ing mi ochond ial genome wi h an es ima ed di e gence ime o 2- 5% sequence di e gence pe one million yea s (P enninge e al. 2003). Wha e e i s ou e o dispe sal, h ough Eu ope o om No h-A ica, O. a agonica is now an endemic species o he eas e n hal o he Ibe- ian Peninsula. The educ ion o i s ange o he cu en s a us could ha e occu ed some ime in he Holocene, when he ack o he popula ions is los in he sou he n hal o he “Sis ema Cen al” and Valencia. Conse a ion S a us The conse a ion s a us o O. a agonica was as- sessed o he IUCN Species Red Lis (as O. bulga- ica) by A ébola and Páll-Ge gely (2011) (see also Cu elod e al. 2011). Acco ding o he me hodol- ogy and c i e ia o he IUCN Red Lis P og am, i was conside ed as a c i ically endange ed species. Taking in o accoun ha O. a agonica is now e- s ic ed o a ew, agmen ed loca ions in sou he n Spain, his ca ego y is ap o his species. Acknowledgemen s. This esea ch was suppo ed by he Andalusia Regional Minis y o he En i onmen as pa o he “P og am o Conse a ion and Sus ainable Snail Exploi a ion in Andalusia”. This wo k also ecei ed inancial suppo om he Uni e si y o he Basque Coun y ( e . GIU06/09) and om he Spanish “Minis e io de Ciencia e Inno ación” ( e . CGL2008- 01131). 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