A New Camaenid Snail Satsuma (Satsuma) lepidophora from Oshima Islet, off Kii-Nagashima, Mie Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

A camaenid land snail that has previously been cited in literature as "Satsuma (Satsuma) peculiaris lepidophora Kuroda MS" (Yamashita et al, 1990) or "Satsuma (Satsuma) japonica lepidophora Kuroda MS" (Ohara & Otani, 2002), inhabits a small islet called "Oshima" (Fig. 1), located about 5 km south off Kii-Nagashima, Kihoku-cho in the southern Mie Prefecture. It has hitherto been known from four specimens in museum collections; two in the Kuroda Collection in Nishinomiya Shell Museum, and two in the Kawamura Collection in the National Science Museum, Tokyo. In order to clarify the taxonomic status of this snail, the author carried out two field samplings on the islet in 2002 and 2004, with the permission of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japanese Government, and collected seven live specimens. Careful examination of this material, together with additional specimens collected by Mr. Masaru Naka, revealed that it is a distinct new species, and the description is given in the following lines.