Sequence-based species delimitation in the Balkan Bythinella Moquin-Tandon, 1856 (Gastropoda : Rissooidea)with general mixed Yule coalescent model

Three sets of sequences of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) from a spring snail Bythinella representing all the Balkans (63 sequences), Greece (78 sequences), and Romania (136 sequences), were used to infer maximum likelihood ultrametric trees. The trees were used to run General Mixed Yule Coalescent (GMYC) analyses assuming single threshold and multiple threshold models. For the single threshold model the threshold value was identical (0.00248 substitution per site) for each data set; for the multiple one the threshold value varied widely for the Balkan tree. Despite the same threshold value, the distinctness of the same lineages varied among trees, mostly due to differences in the models of substitution inferred for each set of sequences, but also due to different proportions of singletons in the data sets. The inferred numbers of ML entities, theoretically equalling the numbers of species, compared with all the biological evidence available so far, were overestimated in Romanian and Greek trees, but realistic in the tree for all the Balkans

Horatia Bourguignat, 1887 : is this genus really phylogenetically very close to Radomaniola Szarowska, 2006 (Caenogastropoda : Truncatelloidea)?

Horatia Bourguignat, 1887 was the first genus established for hydrobiid snails with valvatoid shell, and numerous valvatoid-shelled hydrobioids were classified as Horatia. The genus was the type one for some tribe/family-rank taxa. Thus it is one of the “crucial” hydrobiid genera. Horatia seems to inhabit only Croatia and Macedonia, and its type species: H. klecakiana Bourguignat, 1887, inhabits the springs in the Cetina River Valley. In the present paper the shell, operculum, soft part pigmentation, protoconch SEM microsculpture, female reproductive organs, and penis of H. klecakiana from the spring Studenci, N of Kučiće, in the valley of the Cetina River, Croatia, are described, to confirm the identity of the studied specimens with this species. Mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA gene sequences are used to infer phylogenetic relationships of Horatia, especially with Radomaniola and the sequence of Horatia from GenBank. The results suggest close relationships of the genus with Sadleriana, not with Radomaniola

Ventrosia maritima (Milaschewitsch, 1916) and V. Ventrosa (Montagu, 1803) in Greece : molecular data as a source of information about species ranges within the Hydrobiinae (Caenogastropoda: Truncatelloidea)

Using molecular data (DNA sequences of mitochondrial COI and nuclear ribosomal 18SrRNA genes), we describe the occurrence of two species of Ventrosia Radoman, 1977: V. ventrosa (Montagu, 1803) and V. maritima (Milaschewitsch, 1916) in Greece. These species are found at two disjunct localities: V. ventrosa at the west coast of Peloponnese (Ionian Sea) and V. maritima on Milos Island in the Cyclades (Aegean Sea). Our findings expand the known ranges of both species: we provide the first molecularly confirmed record of V. ventrosa in Greece, and extend the range of the presumably Pontic V. maritima nearly 500 km SSW into the Aegean Sea. Our data confirm the species distinctness of V. maritima

Two new Truncatelloidea species from Melissotrypa Cave in Greece (Caenogastropoda)

In the small lake located in the cave Melissotrypa in Thessalia, Greece, truncatelloidean gastropods representing two species were found, new to science. One of them, represented by two specimens only, has been described based on the shell characters only; with its cytochrome oxidase sequence it has been assigned to the genus Iglica, and to the family Moitessieriidae, Iglica hellenica sp. n. For the other species, represented by 30 collected specimens, the shell, protoconch, radula, head, penis and female reproductive organs have been described; all the morphological characters and cytochrome oxidase sequences have confirmed its assignment to the genus Daphniola (Hydrobiidae: Sadlerianinae), Daphniola magdalenae Falniowski, sp. n