Helix crebriflammea Reeve, 1852

Brook, Fred J. & Ablett, Jonathan D., 2019, Type material of land snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda) described from New Zealand by taxonomists in Europe and North America between 1830 and 1934, and the history of research on the New Zealand land snail fauna from 1824 to 1917, Zootaxa 4697 (1), pp. 1-117 : 39

Helix crebriflammea Reeve, 1852

Pl. 4, fig. D

Reeve, (1851–1854) 1852. Conchologia iconica, 7: species 805, pl. 131, fig. 805.

Type material: Syntypes (3), NHMUK 20140671 (dry shell material); ex Museum Cuming (Acc. no. 1829) .

Label details: ‘crebiflammis P.’—in Pfeiffer’s handwriting, ‘N. Zealand’.

Type locality: ‘New Zealand’ (Reeve 1852 [in 1851–1854]: species 805).

Previous illustrations of type material: Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]: pl. 131, fig. 805); Pfeiffer (1853 [in 1852–1860]: pl. 155, figs. 5–8—as Helix crebriflammis ); Tryon (1885 [from Reeve 1852]: pl. 26, fig. 9—as Elaea crebriflammis ).

Remarks: Helix crebriflammea Reeve, 1852 and H. crebriflammis Pfeiffer, 1853 are based on the same type material, which H. Cuming had obtained from the Australian-based naturalist Frederick Strange. Pfeiffer evidently intended to publish the original description of this species in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London issue for 1851 (see Reeve 1852 [in 1851–1854]: species 805; Pfeiffer 1853a: 92, 1854 [in 1852–1860]: 456), but publication was delayed until 1854 ( Pfeiffer 1854b: 148; Pfeiffer 1854 [in 1852–60]: 456), and was pre-empted by Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]). Authorship of this species has generally been attributed to Pfeiffer (e.g., Hector 1873: 10; Hutton 1880: 24; Suter 1913b: 676; Powell 1979: 313; Spencer et al. 2009: 215), but Reeve (1852) has priority.

Taxonomy: Flammulina crebriflammea (Reeve, 1852) n. comb. is accepted here as an available valid name. Helix crebriflammis Pfeiffer, 1853 is an objective junior synonym.

Distribution: New Zealand; North Island and northern South Island ( Suter 1913b; Powell 1979).