Neohoratia azarum Boeters & Rolán, 1988

Neohoratia azarum Boeters & Rolán, 1988 View in CoL .

Etymology

The genus name refers to Deganta , the goddess of water in the prehistoric mythology of the Astures, Hispano- Celtic inhabitants of the northwestern Iberian Peninsula who believed in the purifying character of water.

Diagnosis

Shell trochiform; whorls 3.5–4.0; aperture rounded, with a straight narrow outer lip; umbilicus narrow. Operculum corneous, yellowish, thin, pliable, oval, without peg and paucispiral with submarginal nucleus. Two pairs of basal cusps on radular central tooth. Ctenidium well developed, with nine to 13 gill filaments. Osphradium positioned opposite approximate middle of ctenidium. Stomach without gastric caecum; rectum U-shaped in the mantle cavity. Bursa copulatrix small, pedunculated and lying against the middle section of the albumen gland; unpigmented renal oviduct; one elongate seminal receptacle arising at the renal oviduct loop. Prostate gland bean-shaped, about twice as long as wide. Penis gradually tapering, with two opposite lobes. Nervous system unpigmented; left pleural ganglion absent, typically concentrated.

lsid:zoobank.org:act: 647448BE-43A6-4567-931F- 4DB07307EDB3

Remarks

The type species of Deganta was previously assigned to Neohoratia and later to the genus Islamia ( Bodon et al., 2001) . However, in addition to the molecular findings presented above, Deganta differs morphologically from Islamia in numerous diagnostic characters, especially those related to the male and female genital systems. For instance, Islamia species lack two lobes in the penis and a bursa copulatrix and have two seminal receptacles. Deganta resembles the genera Avenionia Nicolas, 1882 (from Italy and southern France) and Pseudoaveniona Bodon & Giusti, 1982 (from Italy) in the presence of a basal lobe in the penis. However, these two genera have ovate conical shells. They also present characteristics related to the female genitalia and respiratory system that clearly differentiate them from Deganta . Furthermore, the absence of the left pleural ganglion, as observed in the type species, has not been described previously in any other genus of Hydrobiidae .

DEGANTA AZARUM ( BOETERS & ROLÁN, 1988) View in CoL ,