Large rock-dwelling land snails with flatted or less often broadly conical shells, some species or populations with an umbilicus. The shell is keeled in some species, at least in juveniles.
The L. spiriplana complex has been introduced to Cyprus and the eastern Aegean.[3]
Species
The species-level taxonomy of Levantina is unsettled, because molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial genes[3] found many of the species recognized by morphological revisions[6][2][7][5] to be very closely related. The real number of species may thus be lower than currently assumed.
Levantina longinqua is an enigmatic taxon where only the original series is known. It was allegedly collected south-east of Samarqand, Uzbekistan.[2][8] That would be the eastern-most natural occurrence of any helicid, but a confirmation is needed.
Levantina semitecta from the northwest of Saudi Arabia is known only from shells.[5]
For several species (L. longinqua, L. mahanica, L. ninivita, L. semitecta), there are no sequence data whatsoever (as of 2023).
^ abcNeubert, Eike (1998). "Annotated checklist of the terrestrial and freshwater molluscs of the Arabian Peninsula with descriptions of new species". Fauna of Arabia. 17: 333–461.
Olivier G.A. , 1801 Voyage dans l'Empire Ottoman, l'Egypte et la Perse, fait par ordre du Gouvernement, pendant les six premières années de la République. Avec Atlas, vol. 1, p. xii pp. + Évaluation (1 pp.) + 432 pp. + Errata (1 pp.); Atlas, 1st livraison: vii pp., pls 1-17
Tillier S. & Mordan P. , 1983. The conchological collections of Bruguière and Olivier from the Ottoman Empire (1792-1798). Journal of Conchology 31(3): 153-160
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