Vatusila
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| Vatusila | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Family: | Charopidae |
| Subfamily: | Charopinae |
| Genus: | Vatusila Solem, 1983[1] |
| Type species | |
| Vatusila tongensis Solem, 1983[2] | |
| Species | |
| |
Vatusila is a genus of land snail found in Oceania. It consists of five extant and one fossil species. Alan Solem described and named the genus in 1983.
The genus was circumscribed by the American malacologist Alan Solem in a 1983 monograph. He placed it in the subfamily Charopinae. Solem included six species in his original circumscription: V. eniwetokensis, V. kondoi, V. nayauana, V. niueana, V. tongensis, and V. vaitupuensis. Solem designated V. tongensis to be the genus's type species. The fossil species V. eniwetokensis was first described in 1958 by the American paleontologist Harry S. Ladd, who placed it in the genus Ptychodon; Solem described the five other extant species in his 1983 monograph.[4]
The generic name Vatusila comes from a Fijian tribe of the same name which were located in the headwaters of the Sigatoka River on the island of Viti Levu. They are known for the 1867 murder and cannibalism of the missionary Thomas Baker.[5] A review of Solem's monograph published in Systematic Biology noted his propensity for "creative generic nomenclature" which "may either lighten the reader's day or engender hostility" and alluded to this genus as one of its examples.[6]
Description
Solem notes that Vatusila species can have "rather widely different appearance of the sculpture and large size range". Their shells have 3½–5 whorls which can be coiled anywhere from rather tightly to normally. Their apical sculpture consists of 8–12 prominent, fine spiral chords. Their shells have a rounded lip.[1]
