Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Pages: 1-27

Journal: European Journal of Taxonomy

Volume number: 648

Open access status: Gold

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2020.648

Publisher: EJT consortium

Abstract: 
The aquatic biodiversity of springs and groundwater systems of North Africa remains largely unexplored. In an earlier field survey ofTunisian springs, anew gastropod genus, Bullaregia, was discovered as a phylogenetically independent lineage of uncertain position within the family Hydrobiidae. Here, we provide taxonomic and phylogenetic assignments for three newly collected populations of hydrobiids from springs in northern Tunisia based on morphological, anatomical and genetic (mtCOI and 18S) data. Among these and specimens of Bullaregia, major differences were observed in male and female genitalia as well as in mtCOI sequences (divergence 8.0-9.1%). Based on these findings, we describe two new genera and three new species: Belgrandiellopsis chorfensis gen. et sp. nov., Belgrandiellopsis secunda gen. et sp. nov. and Biserta putealis gen. et sp. nov. In all our phylogenetic analyses, these three new species were well resolved as a monophyletic group together with Bullaregia tunisiensis. Unexpectedly, this Glade emerged as sister to the European valvatiform genera Corbellaria and Kerkia and not to the recently discovered Glade of groundwater, conchologically similar, species living in Bulgaria (Balkan Peninsula). These Tunisian species are each locally endemic and form part of a newly discovered Glade which in future systematic studies could eventually be identified as a distinct hydrobiid subfamily.

Harvard Citation style: Khalloufi, N., Béjaoui, M. and Delicado, D. (2020) Two new genera and three new subterranean species of Hydrobiidae (Caenogastropoda: Truncatelloidea) from Tunisia, European Journal of Taxonomy, 648, pp. 1-27. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2020.648

APA Citation style: Khalloufi, N., Béjaoui, M., & Delicado, D. (2020). Two new genera and three new subterranean species of Hydrobiidae (Caenogastropoda: Truncatelloidea) from Tunisia. European Journal of Taxonomy. 648, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2020.648