Inchoatia

{{Short description|Genus of gastropods}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Inchoatia megdova bruggeni shell.jpg |image_caption = Three views of a shell of ''Inchoatia megdova bruggeni'' |taxon = Inchoatia |authority = (Gittenberger & Uit de Weerd, 2006<ref name="Gittenberger 2006">Gittenberger E. & Uit de Weerd D. R. (2006). "Reconsidering the generic position of the species once classified in ''Carinigera'', ''Isabellaria'' and ''Sericata'' (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Clausiliidae, Alopiinae)". ''Basteria'' [http://www.amimalaco.it/pubblicazioni/basteria.htm '''70'''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722023504/http://www.amimalaco.it/pubblicazioni/basteria.htm |date=2011-07-22 }}(1-3): 57-66. Leiden.</ref> |display_parents=3 }}

'''''Inchoatia''''' is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails.<ref name="WoRMS">MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Inchoatia E. Gittenberger & Uit de Weerd, 2006. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=996065 on 2020-12-15</ref>

== Description == The species classified within the genus ''Inchoatia'' are conchologically similar. They all have slender to very slender, small to medium-sized shells with more or less prominent papillae along the suture.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/> The clausilial apparatus is of the so-called "N-type", with a lamella spiralis and a plica principalis.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/> As in genus ''Albinaria'', the genital tract shows a dimorphism in penial structure, with either a papilla or a caecum.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/>

== Distribution == The species within this genus occur in limestone areas of the central and western part of mainland Greece, where some taxa are restricted to high altitudes.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/>

[[File:Inchoatia map.png|left|thumb|upright=3|Distribution of three species of ''Inchoatia'' in central Greece: yellow dot = ''Inchoatia haussknechti haussknechti'' red dot = ''Inchoatia haussknechti orina'' violet dot = ''Inchoatia haussknechti alticola'' dark blue dot = ''Inchoatia haussknechti hiltrudae'' light blue dot = ''Inchoatia haussknechti refuga'' ---- yellow diamond = ''Inchoatia inchoata inchoata'' red diamond = ''Inchoatia inchoata klemmi'' violet diamond = ''Inchoatia inchoata paramythica'' dark blue diamond = ''Inchoatia inchoata regina'' ---- yellow square = ''Inchoatia megdova bruggeni'' red square = ''Inchoatia megdova megdova'' violet square = ''Inchoatia megdova palatalifera'' dark blue square = ''Inchoatia megdova tavropodensis'']] {{Clear left}}

== Taxonomy == Some ''Inchoatia'' taxa were insufficiently known, even conchologically (in terms of a shell description) and were classified without clear reference to the underlying facts.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/> In the past (Nordsieck 1972,<ref>{{in lang|de}} Nordsieck H. (1972). "Zur Anatomie und Systematik der Clausilien, XI. Neue Formen und taxonomische Revision einiger Gruppen der Alopiinae". ''Archiv für Molluskenkunde'' '''102''': 1-51.</ref> Nordsieck 1974,<ref>{{in lang|de}} Nordsieck H. (1974). "Zur Anatomie und Systematik der Clausilien, XV. Neue Clausilien der Balkan-Halbinsel (mit taxonomischer Revision einiger Gruppen der Alopiinae und Baleinae)". ''Archiv für Molluskenkunde'' '''104''': 123-170.</ref> Zilch 1981<ref>{{in lang|de}} Zilch A. (1981). "Die Typen und Typoide des NaturMuseums Senckenberg, 65: Mollusca: Clausiliidae (6): Alopiinae (4): Montenegrinini". ''Archiv für Molluskenkunde'' '''111''': 123-145.</ref>) species of the Alopiinae were classified in the genus''Carinigera'' or ''Sericata'', mainly on the anatomical basis of having either a penial papilla or a caecum.<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009"/> This dogmatic approach led to a grouping together of clausiliid species with very different shells, which was eventually unmasked as unnatural by DNA analyses.<ref name="Gittenberger 2006"/><ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009"/><ref>Uit de Weerd D. R. & Gittenberger E. (2004). "Re-evaluating ''Carinigera'': molecular data overturn the current classification within the clausiliid subfamily Alopiinae (Gastropoda, Pulmonata)". ''Journal of Molluscan Studies'' '''70'''(4): 295-308. {{doi|10.1093/mollus/70.4.305}}.</ref><ref name="Uit de Weerd 2004"/><ref name="Gittenberger 2006b"/> This position is however not embraced by Nordsieck (2007),<ref>Nordsieck H. (2007). ''Worldwide door snails (Clausiliidae), recent and fossil''. 1-214. ConchBooks, Hackenheim.</ref> who lumped together several genus-group taxa, which "can be characterized neither by shell nor by genital characters", in his view.<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009"/>

The genus ''Inchoatia'' was introduced by Gittenberger & Uit de Weerd (2006)<ref name="Gittenberger 2006"/><ref name="Gittenberger 2006b">Gittenberger E. & Uit de Weerd D. R. (2006). "The genus ''Inchoatia'' validated and three mistakes corrected". ''Basteria'' '''70''': 131-132.</ref> on the basis of molecular phylogenetic analyses by Uit de Weerd et al. (2004).<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2004">Uit de Weerd D.R., Piel W. H. & Gittenberger E. (2004). "Widespread polyphyly among Alopiinae snail genera: when phylogeny mirrors biogeography more closely than morphology". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' '''33'''(3): 533-548. {{doi|10.1016/j.ympev.2004.07.010}}</ref> This molecular phylogenetic study by Uit de Weerd et al. (2004)<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2004"/> was not designed to answer questions about the status of the species group taxa within ''Inchoatia''.<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009"/>

The fact that the ''Inchoatia'' taxa are very disjunctly distributed means that attempting to discriminate species as against subspecies is even more of a subjective opinion than usual, because reproductive isolation under natural conditions cannot be observed.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/> An objective or a generally accepted method to weigh morphological differences does not exist.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/> DNA analyses may be extremely helpful, but cannot always be considered decisive with regard to species or subspecies status.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/> Molecular phylogeny reconstructions made clear that reproductive isolation and lineage splitting do not always run entirely parallel, resulting in paraphyletic species.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/> In ''Inchoatia'', with some island-like distributions of presumably high alpine taxa, this may also be the case.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/>

Besides synapomorphic nucleotide substitutions, these taxa share a similar shell shape, and have more or less continuous ranges.<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009"/> According to the molecular data, the major division within ''Inchoatia'' is between an ''Inchoatia inchoata'' + "''Inchoatia regina''" subclade, and an ''Inchoatia haussknechti'' + ''Inchoatia megdova'' subclade.<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009"/> This pattern is congruent with genital anatomical differences between the two subclades, previously used to place them in separate genera ''Sericata'' and ''Carinigera'' and with conchological similarities between the species within each subclade.<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009"/>

The molecular phylogenetic relationships between nominal subspecies within genus ''Inchoatia'' were examined by Uit de Weerd et al. (2009).<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009"/> A cladogram based on sequences of cytochrome-c oxidase I (COI) genes showing phylogenic relations of ''Inchoatia'' by Uit de Weerd et al. (2009)<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009"/> (simplified):

{{clade |label1=''Inchoatia'' |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Inchoatia inchoata paramythica'' |2={{clade |1=''Inchoatia inchoata inchoata'' |2={{clade |1=''Inchoatia inchoata klemmi'' |2=''Inchoatia inchoata regina'' }} }} }} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Inchoatia haussknechti alticola'' |2=''Inchoatia megdova megdova'' }} |2={{clade |1=''Inchoatia haussknechti hiltrudae'' |2=''Inchoatia haussknechti haussknechti'' }} }} |2=''Inchoatia megdova tavropodensis'' |3=''Inchoatia megdova bruggeni'' }} }} }}

==Species== According to Gittenberger & Uit de Weerd (2009)<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/> and Uit de Weerd et al. (2009)<ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009"/> the genus ''Inchoatia'' includes three species, each of which has a number of subspecies:

* ''Inchoatia haussknechti'' (O. Boettger, 1886) - synonym: ''Carinigera haussknechti'' ** ''Inchoatia haussknechti haussknechti'' (O. Boettger, 1886) ** ''Inchoatia haussknechti alticola'' (Nordsieck, 1974) ** ''Inchoatia haussknechti hiltrudae'' (Nordsieck, 1974) ** ''Inchoatia haussknechti orina'' (Westerlund, 1894) ** ''Inchoatia haussknechti refuga'' (Westerlund, 1894) ** ''Inchoatia haussknechti semilaevis'' (O. Boettger, 1889) * ''Inchoatia inchoata'' (O. Boettger, 1889) - type species,<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/> synonym: ''Sericata inchoata'' ** ''Inchoatia inchoata inchoata'' (O. Boettger, 1889) ** ''Inchoatia inchoata klemmi'' (Nordsieck, 1972) ** ''Inchoatia inchoata paramythica'' (Nordsieck, 1974) ** ''Inchoatia inchoata regina'' (Nordsieck, 1972) * ''Inchoatia megdova'' (Nordsieck, 1974) - synonym: ''Carinigera megdova'' ** ''Inchoatia megdova megdova'' (Nordsieck, 1974) ** ''Inchoatia megdova bruggeni'' Gittenberger & Uit de Weerd, 2009<ref name="Gittenberger 2009"/> ** ''Inchoatia megdova palatalifera'' (Hausdorf, 1987) ** ''Inchoatia megdova tavropodensis'' (Fauer, 1993)

==References== This article incorporates CC-BY-3.0 text from references.<ref name="Gittenberger 2009">Gittenberger E. & Uit de Weerd D. R. (2009). "Summarizing data on the ''Inchoatia'' taxa, including ''Inchoatia megdova bruggeni'' subspec. nov. (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Clausiliidae)". ''Zoologische Mededelingen'' '''83''' http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/83/nr03/a08 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116182332/http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/83/nr03/a08 |date=2014-01-16 }}</ref><ref name="Uit de Weerd 2009">Uit de Weerd D. R., Schneider D. & Gittenberger E. (2009). "Molecular phylogenetic relationships of ''Inchoatia'' taxa". ''Zoologische Mededelingen'' '''83''': 589-592. http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/83/nr03/a09</ref> {{Reflist}} * Bank, R. A. (2017). Classification of the Recent terrestrial Gastropoda of the World. Last update: July 16, 2017.

Category:Clausiliidae Category:Taxa named by Edmund Gittenberger