Zonites chiron Gray, 1850

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 : 33

Zonites chiron Gray, 1850

Pl. 3, fig. F

Gray, 1850. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 17 (1849): 166.

Type material: Lectotype (here designated), NHMUK 1849.12 .3.71, paralectotypes (2), NHMUK 1849.12 .3.72 (dry shell material).

Label details: ‘N.Z., Major Greenwood’.

Type locality: ‘Auckland’ (Gray 1850: 166).

Remarks: The original description of Zonites chiron , which was reproduced by Gray (1851: 66), was based on material that was collected at or near Auckland c. 1847–1849 by Major Joseph Greenwood and sent to the British Museum. Accession details suggest that originally there were two specimens only in the former combined lot NHMUK 1849.12.3.71–72, with a third specimen added subsequently. The type material contains specimens of two species. One species is represented by an adult shell that lacks radial sculpture other than prominent growth lines. The other species is represented by two juvenile shells that have sculpture of irregularly-spaced, thin, arcuate radial ribs, with growth lines in interstices. The original description of Zonites chiron by Gray (1850: 166) appears to be composite in that the reported shell diameter of ¼ of an inch (= 6.35 mm), was probably based on the non-ribbed adult specimen in the type material (i.e., maximum diameter of 6.4 mm), but the reference to “sinuous, concentric, membraneous ridges” was presumably based on the taxon represented by the juvenile shells. One of the latter is here designated as the lectotype of Zonites chiron Gray (pl. 3, fig. F), and corresponds to historical interpretations of chiron by New Zealand workers (e.g. Suter, 1913b: 673, pl. 26, figs. 13, a, b). The non-ribbed specimen in NHMUK 1849.12.3.71–72 appears to be Flammulina perdita (Hutton, 1883) which, like Z. chiron , was described from material collected at Auckland. There are no previous illustrations of type material of Z. chiron from the British Museum collection. A shell figured by Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]: pl. 131, fig. 797), and reproduced by Tryon (1885: pl. 26, fig. 19), was from H. Cuming’s collection, and there is no evidence to indicate that it was from the type series of chiron .

Current Taxonomy: Listed as Flammulina chiron (Gray, 1850) by Hedley & Suter (1893: 644), Suter (1913b: 673), Powell (1979: 313) and Spencer et al. (2009: 215).

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