The temperate Australasian genus Papawera Oskars and Malaquias, 2019 (Gastropoda: Cephalaspidea: Haminoeidae), with a redescription of P. zelandiae and P. maugeansis

Abstract

The genus Papawera includes two species of haminoeid snails found only in temperate waters of New Zealand and southeastern Australia. In this work, we redescribe the Papawera species based on characters of their external morphology, shells, and anatomical features such as radulae, jaws, gizzard plates, and male reproductive systems, using for the first time, scanning electron microscopy. A multi-locus phylogenetic hypothesis and the species delimitation method Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery based on DNA sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene were used to corroborate species status. The type species of the genus, P. zelandiae, is restricted to New Zealand and P. maugeansis is only known from South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania. These species are easily distinguished externally by the shape of the shell, colouration of the living animal, and morphology of the cephalic shield. Anatomically they have differences in the number of marginal teeth, distribution of rods in the gizzard plates, and anatomy of the fundus in the male reproductive system.