New exploration, DNA sequence data and 3D X-ray microscopy reveal prevalence of live populations and wide variability in shells of Iberozospeum bellesi in caves of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France (Gastropoda, Ellobioidea, Ellobiidae)

Finding live individuals of the minute, subterranean snail genus, Iberozospeum Jochum, Kneubühler, Prieto & Neubert, 2022 is a serendipitous, challenging endeavor. Its diversity has largely been described from caves explored in the Spanish, Cantabrian-Pyrenean part of its range, but only rarely from the French side of the western Pyrenees. Recent exploration has thus targeted cave systems in the Départment Pyrénées-Atlantiques to reveal iberozospeid diversity on the southwest, French Pyrenean side. In this study, four live populations were discovered in four different French caves and subjected to integrative taxonomic study, incorporating new genetic data and 3D X-ray microscopic imagery. We show that the new individuals are genetically and morphologically most similar to I. bellesi (Gittenberger, 1973) and consequently, assign them to this species. 3D X-ray image data of type material of I. bellesi and that of individuals within this study are presented. The new genetic data is presented within the latest phylogenetic reconstruction of Iberozospeum while the prevalence of thriving, live populations of I. bellesi is confirmed in multiple caves for the first time in France.