The landsnail genus Metodontia Möllendorff (Pulmonata: Stylommatophora: Bradybaenidae) of China

The bradybaenid genus Metodontia Möllendorff is revised based on the literature and both loessial fossil and recent specimens. M. yantaiensis and M. beresowskii are re-described conchologically and/or anatomically. M. bidentatus and M. wuduensis are proposed to be new to science. M. yantaiensis tetrodon is sunk as a synonym of M. yantaiensis, due to the insufficient differentiation between them. Thus, a total of six valid species of the genus are known in China: M. huaiensis, M. yantaiensis, M. griphodes, M. beresowskii, M. bidentatus new species, and M. wuduensis new species. This study has failed to show the difference between fossil and recent M. huaiensis huaiensis, detected by the principal component analysis on the data comprising seven shell parameters. It suggests the distribution ranges of M. yantaiensis and M. huaiensis do not overlap each other. Illustrations of genital systems of M. beresowskii, M.
yantaiensis and M. bidentatus new species, figures of shells and a key to the revised Metodontia species based on the shell, are provided.