Helix varicosa 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 : 61-62

Helix varicosa Reeve, 1852

Pl. 14, fig. H, Pl. 16, fig. C

Reeve, (1851–1854) 1852. Conchologia iconica, 7: species 824, pl. 133, fig. 824.

Type material: The original description was based on one or more specimens in the Cuming collection. Climo (1969a: 204) noted that R.K. Dell found type material of Helix varicosa Pfeiffer (= H. varicosa Reeve—see below) at the British Museum, probably during a visit c. 1960 (see Dell 1963); this specimen was not found in the NHMUK collection in 2018, and its whereabouts is not known. Label details of another lot of H. varicosa in the NHMUK collection (1849.12.22.124–125), indicates that it contains material from the Cuming collection (see remarks below), and the specimen illustrated in pl. 16, fig. C is interpreted here as a syntype of H. varicosa Reeve.

Label details of NHMUK 1849.12.22.124–125: ‘ varicosa Pfr. ’ in Pfeiffer’s handwriting, ‘ Types, Capt. Stokes. M.C.’.

Type locality: ‘New Zealand’ (Reeve 1852 [in 1851–1854]: species 824).

Previous illustrations of type material: Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]: pl. 133, fig. 824), Climo (1969a: text figs. 16 A–C [from a drawing by R.K. Dell]).

Remarks: Helix varicosa Reeve, 1852 and H. varicosa Pfeiffer, 1853 , are based on the same type material, which was sent to H. Cuming by the Australian-based naturalist Frederick Strange (Pfeiffer 1853: 97). It was probably collected by Strange during a visit to Banks Peninsula and environs in February–April 1849, on HMS Acheron (see introduction). In mid-late 1849, Captain John Lort Stokes, who was the commander of the Acheron , sent a collection of marine and terrestrial molluscs from various localities around New Zealand to the British Museum, and included in this material were two shells that had the following details listed in the accessions register for Mollusca: ‘1849.12.22.124–125, Helix, Akaroa , New Zealand’. Lot NHMUK 1849.12.22.124–125 presently contains three shells, and the label details (listed above) indicate that a specimen from H. Cuming’s collection that had been identified and labelled as H. varicosa by Pfeiffer (i.e., part of the type series), was subsequently added to the original British Museum lot. Pfeiffer evidently intended to publish the original description of Helix varicosa in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London issue for 1851 (see Reeve 1852 [in 1851–1854]: species 824; Pfeiffer 1853a: 97), but publication was delayed until 1854 ( Pfeiffer 1854b: 148), and was pre-empted by Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]) [note that the publication date of ‘ October 1851 ’ listed for plate 133 of Reeve (1851 –1854) is presumed to be an error, as the immediately preceding and following plates were dated ‘ October 1852 ’ (see Petit 2007: table 3)]. Authorship was previously attributed to Pfeiffer (1853) (e.g., Hutton 1880: 7; Suter 1913b: 688; Climo 1978a: 187; Climo 1989: 593; Spencer et al. 2009: 215), but Reeve (1852) has priority. There has been confusion over the identity of this species (see synonymies of Suter 1913b: 687, 688; Climo 1969a: 201–202; Powell 1979: 306). Following a review by Climo (1978a: 186–188), Helix varicosa is regarded as having a distribution restricted to Banks Peninsula and central Canterbury. Thaumatodon iredalia Webster, 1908 is a junior synonym of H. varicosa according to ( Climo 1978a: 187). As noted above, Helix tau Pfeiffer, 1861 was incorrectly listed as a junior synonym of H. varicosa by Climo (1969a: 201) and Powell (1979: 306). Patula timandra Hutton, 1883 , which was described from one or more specimens collected at Auckland, was incorrectly listed as a junior synonym of H. varicosa by Suter (1892e: 293), Hedley & Suter (1893: 651), Climo (1969a: 201), Powell (1979: 306), Marshall (1995: 498), and Freeman et al. (1997: 37), and is here considered a probable junior synonym of H. infecta Reeve, 1852 (see above).

Taxonomy: Fectola varicosa (Reeve, 1852) n. comb. is accepted here as an available valid name. Helix varicosa Pfeiffer, 1853 is a junior primary homonym and an objective junior synonym N. syn.

Distribution: New Zealand; South Island, Banks Peninsula and central Canterbury ( Climo 1978a: 187, fig. 4; 1989, fig. 5).