Taxonomic revision of the Pyrgulopsis gilae (Caenogastropoda, Hydrobiidae) species complex, with descriptions of two new species from the Gila River basin, New Mexico

By

Hershler, Robert
Ratcliffe, Victoria
Liu, Hsiu-Ping
Lang, Brian K.
Hay, Claire

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2014

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

429

Pages

69-85

Subjects

freshwater , Gastropoda , taxonomy, conservation , United States

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.429.7865

 

Abstract

We describe two new species of springsnails (genus Pyrgulopsis) for populations from the middle Fork and upper East Fork of the Gila River Basin (New Mexico) that had been previously identified as P. gilae. We also restrict P. gilae to its originally circumscribed geographic range which consists of a short reach of the East Fork Gila River and a single spring along the Gila River (below the East Fork confluence). These three species form genetically distinct lineages that differ from each other by 3.9–6.3% for mtCOI and 3.7–8.7% for mtNDI (the latter data were newly obtained for this study), and are diagnosable by shell and penial characters. Collectively the three species form a strongly supported clade that is distinguished from other congeners by the unique presence of two glandular strips on the dorsal surface of the penial filament. These findings suggest that the conservation status of P. gilae, which was recently removed from the list of candidates for listing as endangered or threatened by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, should be revisited and that the two new species may also merit protective measures given their narrow geographic ranges.