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A small slug found in the tropical greenhouse of the Science Museum (MUSE) of Trento (Italy) turned out to be a species of the little-known systellommatophoran family Rathouisiidae. We undertook detailed comparative anatomical and molecular studies using specimens of the MUSE slug, Rathouisia sinensis, and sequences of other systellommatophoran species deposited in GenBank to conduct a systematic and phylogenetic assessment. Analysis of the genitalia of the MUSE slug and R. sinensis revealed an unusual triaulic tritrematic structure: two separate female ducts – one for egg release (oviduct), the other for intake of allosperm (vagina) – and a separate male duct for autosperm release. Analysis of the nucleotide sequences of several mitochondrial (COI, 16S rDNA) and nuclear (18S rDNA, ITS2 flanked by 5.8S and 28S rDNA fragments, H3) gene fragments supported assignation of the MUSE slug to Rathouisiidae, but also its distinction from the other rathouisiid genera Atopos, Granulilimax, Rathouisia and an undescribed genus from the Ryukyu Islands (Japan). Therefore, we decided to describe the MUSE slug as a new species in a new genus: Barkeriella museensis gen. et sp. nov. The species is certainly an alien introduced into the tropical greenhouse of MUSE, but its origin is unknown and calls for further investigation.

The mitochondrial genome of Monacha cartusiana is the first complete mitochondrial sequence described for the pulmonate snail genus Monacha and for the family Hygromiidae. The identified mitogenome has a length of 13,894 bp and encodes 13 proteins, 22 tRNAs, and two rRNAs. A phylogenetic analysis of available mitogenomes from representatives of helicoid families shows a sister group relationship of Hygromiidae and Geomitridae, which have been recently recognised as separate families.

Unexpectedly, an unknown limacid slug was found in damp meadows and granite trails on the western side of Montecristo, a small island of the Tuscan Archipelago (N Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy), the malaco...

BARKERIELLA GEN. NOV. Zoobank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank:org:act: AC660310-BCA7-4EA4-B2C2-2194AFA7CE9A. Type species: Barkeriella museensis sp. nov. Etymology: The new genus is named after Gary Barker from Hamilton, New Zealand, a leading land gastropod biologist and author of The biology of terrestrial molluscs and Natural enemies of terrestrial molluscs and also the author of a major review on systellommatophoran gastropods (Barker, 2001). Diagnosis: A genus of the rathouisiids characterized by mantle finely granulated with no sharp delimitation between the dorsal and lateroventral sector; radula consisting of many rows of unicuspidate hook-like teeth; central tooth present; genitalia of triaulic (three ducts for gametes: one vaginal for receiving allosperm from partner, one oviductal for conveying eggs to the outside, one penial for carrying autosperm to penis) and tritrematic type (three genital openings: vaginal, oviductal and penial); large, conspicuous glandular structure, possibly consisting of a small, whitish albumen gland proximally and a large subtransparent uterine oviduct medium-distally; single Simroth’s penial accessory gland., Published as part of Manganelli, Giuseppe, Lesicki, Andrzej, Benocci, Andrea, Barbato, Debora, Miserocchi, Danio, Pieńkowska, Joanna R. & Giusti, Folco, 2023, A small slug from a tropical greenhouse reveals a new rathouisiid lineage with triaulic tritrematic genitalia (Gastropoda: Systellommatophora), pp. 76-103 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 197 (1) on page 96, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac054, http://zenodo.org/record/7474139, {"references":["Barker GM. 2001. Gastropods on land: phylogeny, diversity and adaptive morphology. In: Barker GM, ed. The biology of terrestrial molluscs. Wallingford: CABI Publishing, 1 - 146."]}

BARKERIELLA MUSEENSIS SP. NOV. Zoobank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank:org:act: C8C98093-52BB-4E3B-AA82-7268F7FFAD97. Type locality: Tropical greenhouse of the Science Museum (MUSE) of Trento, northern Italy. Type material: Holotype: D. Barbato leg. 4.5.2019 (one ad. dissected, FCG 51208) and 31 paratypes: D. Barbato & G. Bolzonella leg. 4.1.2019 (two subad. sps. dissected, FGC 51205), D. Barbato & G. Bolzonella leg. 10.2.2019 (three subad. sps. dissected + four juv. sps. dissected, FGC 51206; one ad. + one juv. sps. NHC/ MOLL-2022-001 – 002), D. Miserocchi leg. 2.3.2019 (six sps., FGC 51168), D. Barbato leg. 4.5.2019 (five juv. sps. dissected + seven juv. sps. ‘exploded’ + two ad. sps. dissected, FGC 51191). Etymology: The new species was first discovered in the tropical greenhouse of the Science Museum (MUSE) of Trento, Italy. The species is named for the type locality. Diagnosis: See genus diagnosis. Description: Body (Figs 1, 2C): Crawling specimens, small and slender (length no more than 20 mm; width no more than 3 mm). Notum roundish, whitish in colour with a wide, greyish-violet band on each side, separated dorsally by a whitish line coinciding with a trace of keel; notum covered in coarse granulations with a thick mucus layer in irritated specimens; notum extending laterally to completely cover body sides as far as the pedal groove (no sharp delimitation between dorsal and lateroventral sectors of mantle covering); pedal groove separating notum and foot along length of body. In crawling specimens, head protrudes from notum, but in resting or irritated specimens is completely covered by the notum, and bears two white or pinkish upper tentacles and two apically bilobed lower tentacles. Foot long and rather slender with fine transverse ridges (soleolae). NerƲous system (Fig. 2A, B): not studied in detail; central system forms a concentrated ring, consisting dorsally of many ganglia (cerebral, buccal and visceropleural), more or less fused to one another and ventrally of a pair of pedal ganglia. Renal–pulmonary complex (Fig. 2A, B, D): Located anterodorsally with atrophied pulmonary chamber; pericardium disposed obliquely and heart consisting of a single auricle and ventricle. DigestiƲe tract (Fig. 2A, B, D): consisting of buccal bulb with radula, oesophagus, two salivary glands, stomach and intestine. Jaw absent. Buccal bulb long and wide, occupying the internal part of head and neck and consisting anteriorly of the sac of the protrusible proboscis and posteriorly of the radular sac. Oesophagus long and slender, originating about halfway along length of buccal bulb, passing inside the nervous ring, reversing along the spermoviduct and entering the stomach anteriorly. Two large salivary glands discharge via two fine salivary ducts that pass inside the nervous ring into the buccal bulb. The stomach is small, receives a short, thin tube from the digestive gland posteriorly and continues anteriorly with the intestine. Intestine long and slender, reversing and running first along the left, then along the anterior side of the uterine oviduct, and opening in the right pedal groove in the anterior one-fifth to one-quarter of the body, just anterior to the oviductal opening. Long, single-lobed digestive gland (hepatopancreas) in close contact with upper side of gonad and occupying dorsal part of body cavity as far as tip of tail. Radula (Fig. 5A, B): Consisting of a sequence of many V-shaped rows of hook-like unicuspidate teeth, each with about 27 teeth, according to the formula 13L + 1C + 13L. The large central tooth and the first lateral teeth show a worn tip in most cases. The lateromarginal teeth, progressively reduced in dimension, have pointed tips. Genitalia (Figs 2A, B, 3A–C, 4): Of triaulic tritrematic type (three ducts for gametes: one vaginal for receiving allosperm from partner, one oviductal for conveying eggs outside, one penial for carrying autosperm to penis; three genital apertures: vaginal, oviductal and penial). Hermaphrodite gonad long, ventral with respect to the similarly long digestive gland; anterior side of gonad adheres to the posterior side of a large conspicuous glandular structure. This organ possibly consists of a small, whitish albumen gland proximally and a large, subtrasparent, gelatinous uterine oviduct distally. The glandular structure embraces a large, lobed body proximally and the prostate ventrally and continues with the short wide free oviduct that opens into the pedal groove on the right side of the body, about one-fifth to one-quarter of the way along the body, just posterior to the anus. The large lobed body is a roundish non-glandular organ, in which a long, fine hermaphrodite duct ends and three other ducts arise: (1) a fine, long, straight duct ending into two seminal receptacles (i.e. where the allosperm received from a partner is stored, until it can fertilize eggs); (2) a fine, short, twisted duct ending on the posterior side of the glandular structure interpreted as an oviduct (to bring fertilized eggs into the uterine oviduct); and (3) a fine, short duct that enters the prostate and is interpreted as a sperm duct/ seminal duct (to convey autosperm to the prostate and allosperm to the duct of the seminal receptacles?). An oval or roundish, variably pedunculate lobe, possibly a bursa copulatrix, is disposed on the other side of the large lobed body (i.e. the side opposite that on which the three ducts arise). The large lobed body possibly includes a fertilization chamber. The prostate is a long tubular structure, adhering ventrally to the glandular structure and elongated anteriorly; proximally, near the point where the sperm duct enters, it receives another duct, interpreted as the vagina; distally it is connected to a sort of variably large vesicle, near the base of which the vas deferens arises. The vagina is a long tubular duct that starts from the proximal portion of the prostate, extends along the anterior side of the large lobed body towards the right side of the body and ends with the vaginal opening in the pedal groove about one-third of the way along the body from the head. The distal male genitalia include the vas deferens, the penis and Simroth’s gland. The vas deferens consists of two portions: the initial (proximal) longer portion running inside the body wall, coinciding with the anterior part of the foot; the final (distal) shorter portion that re-enters the body cavity and finishes at the proximal end of the penis where the penial retractor also joins. The penis is a short tubular organ that ends in the male genital atrium side by side with Simroth’s gland. Its proximal portion contains a pointed penial papilla. The genital atrium opens on the anterior right side of the head. Simroth’s gland is a long tubular structure, pinkish in colour in adult specimens and consisting of two parts: the shorter initial portion (facing the distal penis) is twisted and enveloped in a transparent sheath, oval in shape; the longer final portion, which is free of the sheath, forms a bunch by twisting irregularly on itself, then extends backwards along the glandular structure to end level with the digestive gland and the gonad. Shell: Absent. A variable number of vitreous, disclike, ovoidal or roundish granules of variable size are scattered on the dorsal surface of the body cavity, up to the glandular structure and digestive gland. Gene sequences: Partial sequences of the following genes characteristic of Barkeriella museensis were deposited in GenBank: COI – OM827003 – OM827005; 16S rDNA – OM827013 – OM827015; 18 S rDNA – OM 827024 – OM 827026; (5.8 S rDNA) + ITS2 + (28S rDNA) – OM827032 – OM827034; H3 – OM827043 – OM827046. Remarks: It is not easy to trace the geographical origin of this slug: the family to which it belongs – the rathouisiids – has a natural range that encompasses the eastern Palaearctic, the Indomalayan and the northern Australasian regions. Its presence in the Afromontane greenhouse of MUSE in Trento (northern Italy) is surely linked to introduced exotic plants. While species of African vertebrates (fish, amphibians and birds) were introduced for display purposes, many soil invertebrates were unintentionally transported with root balls, despite the museum’s strict control measures to prevent new invasions. Slugs can easily travel in this way as eggs or hatched individuals, and can spread into their surroundings (Bergey et al., 2014). The greenhouse of MUSE (600 m 2; 130 species of plants; temperature 30 °C, humidity 70–80%) was completed in 2013 to recreate different montane forest environments of eastern Africa (namely those of the Udzungwa Mountains in eastern Tanzania), but not all the plant species used so far come from that area. Some trees, shrubs, herbs and vines native to South-East Asia or tropical America were chosen as substitutes for closely related or apparently similar eastern African plants, difficult or impossible to obtain through regular channels. Even the plants native to eastern Africa were not imported directly from there, but in most cases were purchased from plant nurseries in Italy or Europe or obtained by exchange with other institutions. In such facilities, plants from different continents are often raised in the same areas, allowing different pools of soil invertebrates to spread from one to the other. Thus, the rich soil fauna which inhabits the MUSE tropical greenhouse is composed of a mixture of species (flatworms, earthworms, woodlice, mites, centipedes, insects and molluscs) from several biogeographic regions. All slug specimens were found in a restricted part of the greenhouse between January and May 2019. A subsequent survey in February 2022 was unsuccessful. The sector of the greenhouse where B. museensis was collected was radically restructured in the period 2020–22. Some plants were replaced and certain soil features were affected as a result. In that period, a population of the burrowing Suriname cockroach Pycnoscelus surinamensis (Linnaeus, 1758) spread throughout the greenhouse, reaching high densities everywhere and probably causing further changes to soil properties. The reorganization may have led to disappearance of the slug.

Luminescent Ln3+ -doped nanoparticles (NPs) functionalised with the desired organic ligand molecules for haemocompatibility studies were obtained in a one-pot synthesis. Chelated aromatic organic ligands such as isophthalic acid, terephthalic acid, ibuprofen, aspirin, 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid, 2,6-pyridine dicarboxylic acid and adenosine were applied for surface functionalisation. The modification of the nanoparticles is based on the donor-acceptor character of the ligand-nanoparticle system, which is an alternative to covalent functionalisation by peptide bonding as presented in our recent report. The aromatic groups of selected ligands absorb UV light and transfer their excited-state energy to the dopant Eu3+ ions in LaF3 and SrF2 NPs. Herein, we discuss the structural and spectroscopic characterisation of the NPs and the results of haemocompatibility studies. Flow cytometry analysis of the nanoparticles' membrane-binding is also presented.

Sinanodonta woodiana (Lea) and Corbicula fluminea (O. F. Müller) are among the most invasive aquatic molluscs found in Europe. Both species were recorded in the Adriatic part of Croatia for the first time in 2019 although in the Danubian Croatia they were more common. An abundant population of S. woodiana was found in an oxbow of the Cetina River; mussels with shell length of ca. 12–17 cm dominated. A population of C. fluminea was recorded in the freshwater section of the Zrmanja River above the Jankovića Buk waterfall which forms the border between the brackish and the freshwater sections of the river. Possible pathways of their introduction and reasons for their rare occurrence in contrast to the Danubian Croatia are discussed.

Specimens obtained from ten populations of a Monacha species from the central Apennines were compared with six molecular lineages of Monacha cantiana s. l. (CAN-1, CAN-2, CAN-3, CAN-4, CAN-5, CAN-6) and two other Monacha species (M. cartusiana and M. parumcincta), treated as outgroup, by molecular (nucleotide sequences of two mitochondrial COI and 16S rDNA as well as two nuclear ITS2 and H3 gene fragments) and morphological (shell and genital anatomy) analysis. The results strongly suggest that these populations represent a separate species for which two names are available: the older Helix pantanellii De Stefani, 1879 and the junior M. ruffoi Giusti, 1973. The nucleotide sequences created well separated clades on each phylogenetic tree. Genital anatomy included several distinctive features concerning vaginal appendix, penis, penial papilla and flagellum; instead, shell characters only enabled them to be distinguished from M. cartusiana and M. parumcincta. Remarkably, populations of M. pantanellii show high morphological variability. Shell variability mainly concerns size, some populations having very small dimensions. Genital variability shows a more intricate pattern of all anatomical parts, being higher as regards the vagina and vaginal appendix. Despite this morphological variability, the K2P distance range of COI sequences between populations is narrow (0.2–4.5%), if we consider all but three of the 53 sequences obtained. This research confirmed that the species of Monacha and their molecularly distinguished lineages can only occasionally be recognised morphologically and that they have significant inter- and intra-population variability. The possibility of using an overall approach, including shell, genital and molecular evidence, was taken in order to establish a reliable taxonomic setting.

Luminescent lanthanide fluoride core-shell (LaF3 :Tb3+ ,Ce3+ @SiO2 -NH2 ) nanoparticles, with acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) coated on the surface have been obtained. The synthesized products, which combine the potential located in the silica shell with the luminescent activity of the core, were characterized in detail with the use of luminescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) methods. The in vitro effects of the modified luminescent nanoparticles on human red blood cell (RBC) membrane permeability, RBC shape, and sedimentation rate were investigated to assess the hemocompatibility of the obtained compounds. This study demonstrates that LaF3 : Tb3+ 5 %, Ce3+ 10 %@SiO2 -NH2 nanoparticles with acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) coated on the surface are very good precursors for multifunctional drug-delivery systems or bio-imaging probes that can be used safely in potential biomedical applications.