Platyrhaphe Möllendorff, 1890

Genus Platyrhaphe Möllendorff, 1890 View in CoL

Coclotus ( Platorhaphe ) Möllendorff, 1890: 267.

Tope species: Coclotus pusillus G.B. Sowerby I, 1843 ( Fig. 6B View Figure 6 ), by original designation.

Remarks: No recent revision has been published.Tirty-three of the 76 species were described from the Philippines by Bartsch (1919), who is famous for being an extreme spliter (see Waters 2006, and Páll-Gergely et al. 2019 and references therein). Terefore, the real number of species might be lower, although several undescribed species await description from continental Asia.

Bartsch (1919) described three subgenera (Platoraphella, Platoraphida, and Platoraphina) based on subtle differences of the operculum, all from the Philippines. Although we have not examined this question in detail, it seems unlikely that four subgenera are known from the edge of the distribution of this genus, whereas the nominotypical subgenus is widely distributed in Southeast Asia. Te subgenera of Platorhaphe are likely to be results of Bartsch’s extreme spliting activity. Tus, in agreement with Egorov (2009), we do not consider them valid, and we handle Platorhaphe as a genus without subgenera.

Although Bartsch (1919) clearly indicated the presence of the inner tube of this genus as a characteristic feature, it has not received any atention by later authors. Tus, owing to the simple cyclophoroid shell shape, some species currently classified as Platorhaphe might belong to Coclotus or other similar-looking genera, and vice versa. Tis question will be investigated further in upcoming systematic studies.