Vespericola

Vespericola is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Polygyridae.

Vespericola
Drawing: three views of a shell of Vespericola columbiana
from W. G. Binney, 1878[1]
Photograph: three views of a shell of Vespericola armigera
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra
Superfamily:
Helicoidea
Family:
Polygyridae
Genus:
Vespericola

Pilsbry, 1939

Habitat

These snails are found along the Pacific Coast of North America, from southern Alaska and British Columbia to California.

Shell description

The shells of these small to medium, globose or depressed globose snails are usually some shade of brown, sometimes without apertural teeth and sometimes with a single tooth on the parietal wall. Small periostracal hairs may be observed on the shell surface of many specimens, but the shells otherwise resemble those of Praticolella or Mesodon.[2]

Anatomy

According to Pilsbry (1940), Vespericola "differs from all other Polygyridae by the possession of a well-developed though rather short verge, and by the peculiar shape of the epiphallus".[3]

Species

Species within the genus Vespericola include:[2][4]

  • Vespericola armigera (Ancey, 1881) - Santa Cruz hesperian
  • Vespericola columbiana (I. Lea, 1838) - northwest hesperian
    • Vespericola columbiana depressa (Pilsbry & Henderson, 1936)
    • Vespericola columbiana latilabrum Pilsbry, 1940
  • Vespericola eritrichius (Berry, 1939) - velvet hesperian
  • Vespericola hapla (Berry, 1933) - Butte Creek hesperian
  • Vespericola karokorum Talmadge, 1962 - Karok hesperian
  • Vespericola klamathicus Roth & W. B. Miller, 1995 - Klamath hesperia
  • Vespericola marinensis Roth & W. B. Miller, 1993 - Marin hesperian
  • Vespericola megasoma (Pilsbry, 1928) - redwood hesperian
  • Vespericola megasoma euthales (Berry, 1939)
  • Vespericola oria (Berry, 1933) - El Dorado hesperian
  • Vespericola pilosa (Henderson, 1928) - brushfield hesperian
  • Vespericola pinicola (Berry, 1916) - Monterey hesperian
  • Vespericola pressleyi Roth, 1985 - Big Bar hesperian
  • Vespericola rothi Cordero & W. B. Miller, 1995 - Ellery Creek hesperian
  • Vespericola scotti Cordero & W. B. Miller, 1995 - Benson Gulch hesperian
  • Vespericola shasta (Berry, 1921) - Shasta hesperian
  • Vespericola sierrana (Berry, 1921) - Siskiyou hesperian

References
  1. Binney, William G. (1878). The Terrestrial Air-Breathing Mollusks of the United States and Adjacent Territories of North America. Vol. 5 (plates). Bull. Mus. Comparative Zool., Harvard. Plate 13a.
  2. Pilsbry, Henry A. 1940. Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico). Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monograph 3, vol. 1(2): 892-912.
  3. Pilsbry, Henry A. 1940. Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico). Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monograph 3, vol. 1(2): 892.
  4. Vespericola at ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System); accessed 5 Feb. 2008.
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