Amphidoxa cornea Hutton, 1882

Brook, Fred J., Kennedy, Martyn, King, Tania M., Ridden, Johnathon, Shaw, Matthew D. & Spencer, Hamish G., 2020, Catalogue of New Zealand land, freshwater and estuarine molluscan taxa named by Frederick Wollaston Hutton between 1879 and 1904, Zootaxa 4865 (1), pp. 1-73 : 23-24

Amphidoxa cornea Hutton, 1882

Pl. 2, fig. D

Hutton, 1882. New Zealand Journal of Science, 1: 281.

Type material. Lectotype (designated here), CMNZ M12777 [ex M285], paralectotypes, AIM MA83811 (1), CMNZ M285 (4), CMNZ M1069 [ex ZS 704] (2), and possible paralectotypes, NMNZ M.275831 [ex H. Suter colln.] (2) (dry shells). The molluscan collection at CMNZ has a radula mounted on a glass slide with the label details ‘ Amphidoxa cornea , Auckland, XVI p. 171’, in Hutton’s handwriting (i.e., CMNZ 2017.17.2), which is probably primary type material (see radula description by Hutton 1883d: 136).

Label details. AIM MA83811—‘ Flammulina cornea Hutt. , Auckland (ex. Hutton)’; CMNZ M285—‘35. Amphidoxa cornea Hutton , Auckland’, pillbox label in Hutton’s handwriting; NMNZ M.275831—‘ Flammulina cornea Hutt. , Auckland, Hutt.,’ in H. Suter’s handwriting.

CMNZ molluscan catalogue details. M1069—‘ Flammulina cornea Hutton , Auckland (old number ZS 704)’.

Type locality. ‘ Auckland (T. F. Cheeseman)’ ( Hutton, 1882p: 281, 1883d: 136).

Previous illustrations of type material. Radula teeth illustrated by Hutton (1884b: pl. 10, fig. A) probably from type material; Pilsbry (1892 [in 1892–1893]: 75, pl. 22, figs. 64–66—‘drawn by Mr. Suter from Prof. Hutton’s type’); Suter (1915: pl. 9, fig. 9, a, b—possibly the same shell as illustrated by Pilsbry).

Remarks. Hutton submitted a description of this species to the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute issue for 1882, but publication was delayed until May 1883 ( Hutton 1883d: 136), and was preempted by a brief description in an account of a meeting of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury ( Hutton 1882p: 281). Descriptions by Hutton (1884b: 171) of a jaw and radula of cornea were probably based on the putative type material in CMNZ 2017.17.2 mentioned above, whereas the description of an animal purported to be cornea was based on a specimen from Greymouth that was neither type material of, nor conspecific with, Amphidoxa cornea Hutton, 1882 . From Pilsbry (1893 [in 1893–1895]: 18) and Hedley & Suter (1893: 643) onwards, cornea has generally been assigned to Flammulina Martens, 1873 at subgenus or genus level. Examination of material in museum collections indicate that it is a relatively scarce species with a sparse distribution in northern New Zealand (below).

Current taxonomy. Flammulina cornea (Hutton, 1882) — Hedley & Suter (1893: 643), Suter (1913: 675), Powell (1979: 313), Spencer et al. (2009: 215).

Distribution. New Zealand; northern North Island, from Taipa south to Auckland and Coromandel Range, and on Aotea/Great Barrier Island and Hauturu/Little Barrier Island (AIM and NMNZ collection records).