A Review of the North American Freshwater Snail Genus Pyrgulopsis

NUMBER 554 13
contrasted the genus with Cincinnatia based on shell, headfoot,
body pigmentation, penis, and radula. Taylor (1987) later
described 10 new western American species as Fontelicella.
Species described as or allocated to Fontelicella span the entire
spectrum of penial morphology found in Pyrgulopsis and these
taxa are entirely equivalent except for the exclusion of carinate
forms in the former.
Mexistiobia Hershler, 1985, a monotypic genus from
northern Mexico, is unusual in several features, but these are
interpreted as a consequence of its minute size and globose
shell: otherwise the animal clearly conforms to Pyrgulopsis in
all respects.
Taylor (1987) described Apachecoccus and Yaquicoccus,
both monotypic genera from Arizona. Although these are well
differentiated from other western species, allocation to
Pyrgulopsis is suggested by the fact that most if not all of their
distinctive features occur in or intergrade to other members of
the genus, the exception being the absence of seminal
receptacle in Apachecoccus. The author described both of these
animals as members of Pyrgulopsis in a paper (Hershler and
Landye, 1988) published shortly after that of Taylor (1987).
Savaginius, erected by Taylor (1966a) for various Pliocene-
Pleistocene species from the West (and one Recent species;
Taylor, 1981), herein is placed in synonymy with Pyrgulopsis,
as it is found entirely within the geographic range of Recent
members of the genus and is virtually identical in shell shape,
although Taylor suggested that Savaginius has a more acute
protoconch.
ETYMOLOGY.—Genus name feminine, referring to conchological
similarity between this group and European Pyrgula.