Gastrocopta pellucida hordeacella (Eupulmonata: Gastrocoptidae) in the semiarid region of Brazil

Abstract

The genus Gastrocopta Wollaston, 1878 includes land microsnails belonging to the family Gastrocoptidae Pilsbry, 1918 that live in a variety of terrestrial ecosystems in tropical and temperate regions. This paper records the land microsnail Gastrocopta pellucida hordeacella (Pilsbry, 1890) in the semiarid region of Brazil, expanding knowledge on the area of occurrence of the taxon in northeastern Brazil. Shells of the gastrocoptid G. pellucida hordeacella were collected in leaf litter bordering and entering the native vegetation in Engenheiro Ávidos Ecological Park. The shells were identified using a stereomicroscope, and photographs were used to aid in measurement. The shells were about 1.6 mm in length. There is a smooth, blunt protoconch with one whorl and an abrupt transition to the teleoconch, which is marked by a tenuous axial edge and has four apertural barriers that do not obstruct the aperture: a large, bifid parietoangular tooth somewhat displaced towards the upper corner of the parietal region, two palatal teeth and a subhorizontal columellar tooth. Knowledge on the diversity of G. pellucida hordeacella and other land microsnails in forest ecosystems is extremely underestimated in Brazil.