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Six new species of unique terrestrial snails whose shells are covered with scales have been described from the biodiversity hotspot of Malaysian Borneo by scientists Mohd Zacaery Khalik, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kasper Hendriks, University Groningen, Jaap Vermeulen, JK Art & Science, and Prof Menno Schilthuizen, Center for Biodiversity Naturalis. Their paper is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys .
With their remarkable structures, molluscs were added to a whole new group of terrestrial snail species commonly called "scaly" snails. , so that they can be set apart from the rest in the genus Georissa . Why only some of the species of the genus carry the unique "scales" remains unknown.
Fascinated by the tiny "flaky" snail fauna of Borneo, the researchers performed fieldwork between 2015 and 2017 to find out how these curious shells evolved. In addition, they examined materials deposited in private collections of museums and snails.
In addition to DNA data, commonly used for species identification, the team turned to modern tools that are still very popular, such as 3D modeling. X-ray scanning. In doing so, the researchers were able to observe the internal and external surfaces of the tiny specimens from all angles and all positions, and to examine them in detail.
The researchers note that to identify "scaly" snails at the species level, one needs a combination of DNA and morphological data:
"The objective delineation of species based solely on molecular data will not be successful for the "scaly" snails of Georissa at least "
The six new species all bear the names of the original localities, in order to raise awareness people to the conservation of species and habitats
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