Melanopsis wolfgangfischeri, Neubauer, Thomas A., Harzhauser, Mathias, Kroh, Andreas, Elisavet, Georgopoulou & Mandic, Oleg, 2014

Neubauer, Thomas A., Harzhauser, Mathias, Kroh, Andreas, Elisavet, Georgopoulou & Mandic, Oleg, 2014, Replacement names and nomenclatural comments for problematic species-group names in Europe's Neogene freshwater Gastropoda. Part 2, ZooKeys 429, pp. 13-46 : 16

Taxon classification Animalia ORDO FAMILIA

Melanopsis wolfgangfischeri nom. n.

Melanopsis rugosa [Mel. Martiniana] Var. rugosa Handmann, 1887: 26, pl. 5, figs 5-7 [non Matheron, 1842].

Melanopsis rugosa Handmann; Papp 1953: 136, pl. 10, figs 13-16 [non Matheron 1842].

Melanopsis rugosa Handmann 1887; Fischer 1996: 23 (cum syn.) [non Matheron 1842].

Etymology.

In honor of Wolfgang Fischer (Vienna), who greatly contributed to nomenclature and taxonomy of fossil and Recent melanopsids.

Type locality.

Wittmannsdorf near Leobersdorf, Austria ( Fischer 1996).

Age.

Late Miocene (Early Pannonian, Slavonian; Papp 1951).

Type material.

Geological Survey Austria, Vienna, no number indicated ( Fischer 1996).

Discussion.

This taxon is a primary homonym of Melanopsis rugosa Matheron, 1842 (p. 293, pl. 37, fig. 11), a fossil species from SE France. Melanopsis rugosa Handmann, 1887 is a member of the complexly evolving Melanopsis impressa -species lineage in the Late Miocene Lake Pannon ( Geary 1990, Geary et al. 2012, Neubauer et al. 2013a). The morphological variability in this group resulted in the description of many names, most of which are today synonymized. While Wenz (1929a, p. 2719) regarded rugosa Handmann as synonym of Melanopsis fossilis (which is the accepted name of " Melanopsis martiniana "), Papp (1953), Lueger (1980) and Fischer (1996) treated it as separate species. As implied by Neubauer et al. (2013a) the validity in a biological sense of this and other species-group taxa is doubtful. Nevertheless, since many authors clearly referred to it as a separable unit, a replacement name is inevitable.

Additionally, there exists another primary homonym of Melanopsis rugosa , i.e. Melanopsis lanzaeana rugosa Brusina, 1897 from the Middle Miocene deposits of the Sinj Basin. It was synonymized with Melanopsis lanzaeana by Neubauer et al. (2011, p. 205), who treated it as a mere morphotype and already mentioned the problem of homonymy. We therefore avoid introducing another name for this Croatian taxon, which is not used anymore.