Vespericola

Taxobox
name = "Vespericola"

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image_width = 200px
image_caption = "Vespericola columbiana"
from W. G. Binney, 1878 [Binney, William G. (1878). "The Terrestrial Air-Breathing Mollusks of the United States and Adjacent Territories of North America". Vol. 5 (plates). Bull. Mus. Comparative Zool., Harvard. Plate 13a.]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Pulmonata
subordo = Eupulmonata
infraordo = Stylommatophora
parvordo = Sigmurethra
superfamilia = Helicoidea
familia = Polygyridae
genus = "Vespericola"
genus_authority = Pilsbry 1939

"Vespericola" is a genus of land snail in the family Polygyridae. They are found along the Pacific coast of North America, from southern Alaska and British Columbia to California. The shells of these small to medium, globose or depressed globose snails are usually some shade of brown, sometimes without apertural teeth and sometimes with a single tooth on the parietal wall. Small periostracal hairs may be observed on the shell surface of many specimens, but the shells, otherwise, resemble those of "Praticolella" or "Mesodon". Pilsbry, Henry A. 1940. "Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico)". Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monograph 3, vol. 1(2): 892-912.]

According to Pilsbry (1940), "Vespericola" "differs from all other Polygyridae by the possession of a well developed though rather short verge, and by the peculiar shape of the epiphallus". [Pilsbry, Henry A. 1940. "Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico)". Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monograph 3, vol. 1(2): 892.]

The following species and subspecies are included in this genus: [ [http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=77645] "Vespericola" at "ITIS" ("Integrated Taxonomic Information System"); accessed 5 Feb. 2008.]

*"Vespericola armigera" (Ancey, 1881); Santa Cruz hesperian
*"Vespericola columbiana" (I. Lea, 1838); northwest hesperian
*"Vespericola columbiana depressa" (Pilsbry & Henderson, 1936)
*"Vespericola columbiana latilabrum" Pilsbry, 1940
*"Vespericola eritrichius" (Berry, 1939); velvet hesperian
*"Vespericola hapla" (Berry, 1933); Butte Creek hesperian
*"Vespericola karokorum" Talmadge, 1962; Karok hesperian
*"Vespericola klamathicus" Roth and W. B. Miller, 1995; Klamath hesperia
*"Vespericola marinensis" Roth and W. B. Miller, 1993; Marin hesperian
*"Vespericola megasoma" (Pilsbry, 1928); redwood hesperian
*"Vespericola megasoma euthales" (Berry, 1939)
*"Vespericola oria" (Berry, 1933); El Dorado hesperian
*"Vespericola pilosa" (Henderson, 1928; brushfield hesperian
*"Vespericola pinicola" (Berry, 1916); Monterey hesperian
*"Vespericola pressleyi" Roth, 1985; Big Bar hesperian
*"Vespericola rothi" Cordero and W. B. Miller, 1995; Ellery Creek hesperian
*"Vespericola scotti" Cordero and W. B. Miller, 1995; Benson Gulch hesperian
*"Vespericola shasta" (Berry, 1921); Shasta hesperian
*"Vespericola sierrana" (Berry, 1921); Siskiyou hesperian

References