Venus (Japanese Journal of Malacology)

Oguranodonta ogurae gen. et sp. nov. is described. This new genus with O. ogurae as monotypy differs from Anodonta (Sinanodonta) complex in having the strongly undulated sculpture on the umbonal area and distinguished pronouncedly erected wings on the dorsal margin in younger stage.

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"Solariella" nektonica Okutani, 1961 is moved to the genus Ethminolia which is a member of the Subfamily Umboniinae. The appearance of axial riblets and the shoulder keel in the early protoconch may also represent the character of the genus Ethminolia. The distribution of this species ranges from Suruga Bay, Japan Sea and down south to off Kushikino, Kyushu, at a depth of 35-134 m.

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Form and habitat of a fresh-water mussel, Oguranodonta ogurae Kuroda and Habe were investigated in the River Yodo, Osaka Prefecture. A hundred and thirty-eight specimens were collected from a pond in the riverbed of the River Yodo in August 1985. Mean ratio of shell width to shell length in 0.469, and that of shell height is 0.680. Though the ligaments winged along dorsal region is a manifest feature, this character becomes obscure with the growth of mussel. There are three to five wrinkles around umbo along the growth line. It is suggested that O. ogurae lives in deeper parts than Anodonta woodiana Lea in the pond.

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Shishangluosi (石上螺〓) were first described in "Ben Cao Gang Mu Shi Wei (本草綱目拾遺)" as a kind of molluscan drugs. This mollusk has been used to cure jaundice and swellings. In a modern Japanese literature, this mollusk was identified to some species of Littorina, belonging to the family Littorinidae. But Littorina is dwelling on the rocks of seashore. Careful investigations on the original description, meaning of the name, shape and character of the shells, habitat of the snails and their medicinal usages suggested that Shishangluosi were some kinds of live land snails having the spindle-like shell, e.g. the Clausiliidae. We also surveyed to the local usages of Euphaedusa digonoptyx (Boettger), E. tau (Boettger) and Stereophaedusa japonica (Crosse) in Japan and found Shishangluosi had the similarity to these Japanese folk medicines. As a result, Shishangluosi were presumed to be some common species of the Clausiliidae, Euphaedusa aculus aculus (Benson), E. tau (Boettger) etc.

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