Gulella systemanaturae

Gulella systemanaturae is a species of small air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Streptaxidae.

Whorls seven to seven and three-quarters, very slightly convex, covered with fairly close, straight, oblique and little prominent costulae, interstices wider than (at most as wide as) costulae, smooth but with clear traces of spiral sculpture, apical whorls smooth with faint traces of spiral engraving; sutures fairly shallow to somewhat incised, crenellate.

The aperture is fairly large, roughly triangular in shape, little obstructed by fourfold dentition: a strong, almost perpendicular, inrunning angular lamella, (almost) free from apex of labrum; a more or less horizontal, triangular mid-labral process, protruding as far as angular lamella, corresponding to noticeable outside depression; a small, but noticeable superficial tubercle above or on the middle of the columella; a deeply situated, little prominent, almost vertical, inside columellar process.

[1] The species is particularly characterized by its double columellar processes in the apertural dentition, a splendid discriminating character in shell morphology in this group.

[1] Gulella systemanaturae was found in leaf litter in Syzygium forest in the Dedza Mountain in altitudes approximately from 1700 m to 2100 m above sea level.

[1] The colour photo on the top of p. 34 in Dowsett-Lemaire & Dowsett (2006)[3] gives a good impression of the area, depicting “Low-canopy montane forest near the summit of Dedza Mountain (2150 m).”.