Viviparus berbestiensis grandis Lubenescu & Zazuleac, 1985 non Neumayr in Herbich and Neumayr 1875

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 : 27

Taxon classification Animalia ORDO FAMILIA

Viviparus berbestiensis grandis Lubenescu & Zazuleac, 1985 non Neumayr in Herbich and Neumayr 1875

Viviparus berbestiensis grandis Lubenescu & Zazuleac 1985: 109, pl. 28, figs 15-17, pl. 29, fig. 12 [non Vivipara grandis Neumayr in Herbich and Neumayr 1875].

Viviparus cucestiensis grandis Lubenescu; Papaianopol and Marinescu 1995, pl. 44, fig. 5 [non Neumayr in Herbich and Neumayr 1875].

Type locality.

Puilor Valley, Buzău, Romania.

Age.

Early Pliocene (Late Dacian, Parscovian).

Holotype.

Institut de Géologie et Géophysique, Bucharest, coll. no. 17055.

Discussion.

Vivipara , as given by Neumayr in Herbich and Neumayr (1875, p. 413) and many other authors of this time, is an incorrect subsequent spelling of Viviparus Montfort, 1810 ( Melville and Smith 1987, p. 185). The species-group name grandis in combination with Viviparus , as introduced for a new species by Lubenescu and Zazuleac (1985), therefore is a primary homonym of Viviparus grandis (Neumayr in Herbich and Neumayr 1875) and would require a replacement name (see also Wenz 1928a, p. 2323). We refrain from introducing a nomen novum because of the highly doubtful taxonomic status of this subspecies. The only criterion for Lubenescu and Zazuleac (1985, p. 110) to separate this form from the nominal species was the additional whorl and thus bigger size (therefore the name grandis). Apart from that it completely corresponds to Viviparus berbestiensis Lubenescu and Zazuleac, 1985. Consequently, we regard Viviparus berbestiensis grandis as junior synonym of Viviparus berbestiensis .

Papaianopol and Marinescu (1995) ranked Viviparus berbestiensis grandis as subspecies of Viviparus cucestiensis Lubenescu & Zazuleac 1985, but without explanation and only in the figure captions. Here we follow the original authors to avoid additional confusion.