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Edgbastonia alanwillsi n. gen & n. sp. (Tateinae: Hydrobiidae s.l.: Rissooidea: Caenogastropoda); a snail from an artesian spring group in western Queensland, Australia, convergent with some Asian Amnicolidae

W. F. PONDER¹, T. WILKE², W.-H. ZHANG³, R. E. GOLDING⁴, H. FUKUDA^1,5, & R. A. B. MASON^1
1Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
² Animal Ecology and Systematics, Justus Liebig University Giessen Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32 (IFZ), D-35392 Giessen, Germany
³College of Life Sciences and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, 830046, China
⁴Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
⁵Conservation of Aquatic Biodiversity, Faculty of Agriculture, Okayama University, Tsushima-naka 1-1-1, Okayama 700-8530, Japan

Abstract

Edgbastonia alanwillsi n. gen. & n. sp. is restricted to a small group of springs on Edgbaston Station near Aramac in western Queensland where it is assumed to be relictual. It has close similarities in shell morphology to some species of Amnicolidae found in China and India and the female reproductive system has unique characters that separate it from any other described taxon attributed to the Hydrobiidae or any related family. Sequence data from COI, 16S and 18S indicate that this species is closely allied to taxa included in Jardinella Iredale & Whitley, 1938, the only genus of Hydrobiidae (sensu lato) that has been previously recognised as inhabiting the Queensland artesian discharge springs. However, several important morphological characters separate this taxon from species included in the possibly para- or polyphyletic Jardinella. Based on our molecular results, the Australasian 'ydrobiid' taxa fall within a distinct clade (Tateinae) within a broad concept of Hydrobiidae.

Key words: anatomy, Great Artesian Basin, relict, molecular phylogeny, COI, 16S, Pomatiopsidae, Amnicolidae, Edgbaston spring group

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