Hydrobia alpha Jekelius, 1944

Hydrobia subprotracta Jekelius 1944: 59, pl. 10, figs 1–4 [non Hydrobia subprotracta Zhizhchenko, 1936].

Hydrobia subprotracta alpha [sic] Jekelius 1944: 59, pl. 10, figs 5–7.

Type locality. Poliţioană valley near Soceni, Caras-Severin, Romania.

Age. Sarmatian s.s. (= upper Serravallian).

Holotype. Jekelius (1944, pl. 10, fig. 2); no information about storage and collection number given.

Discussion. The species name Hydrobia subprotracta Jekelius, 1944 is a primary homonym of Hydrobia subprotracta Zhizhchenko, 1936 and therefore unavailable. Formally, a replacement name is needed here. We refrain from such a nomenclatural act because of following reason: H. subprotracta Jekelius, 1944 is herein considered synonymous with H. subprotracta alpha Jekelius, 1944 . The name " alpha " was fully spelled out by Jekelius (1944) and does not denote an infrasubspecific taxon; it is thus available as a species-group name (see also ICZN 1999, Article 45.6.4). Apart from stronger convex whorls as indicated by the description and illustrations of Jekelius (1944), it fully corresponds to " H. subprotracta Jekelius, 1944 ". Following this, " alpha " is the first and only available name for the taxon. We simply avoid introducing a replacement name for Hydrobia subprotracta Jekelius, 1944, not to add another (redundant) name to the already existing bulk and confusing later workers.