Helix hypopolea 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 : 45

Helix hypopolea Reeve, 1852

Pl. 5, fig. B

Reeve, (1851–1854) 1852. Conchologia iconica, 7: species 787, pl. 130, fig. 787.

Type material: Syntypes (2), NHMUK 20140868 (dry shell material); ex Museum Cuming (Acc. no. 1829) .

Label details: ‘n.sp. H. Hypoplia P. N. Zeland’—in in Pfeiffer’s handwriting.

Type locality: ‘New Zealand’ (Reeve 1852 [in 1851–1854]: species 787).

Previous illustrations of type material: Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]: pl. 130, fig. 787); Pfeiffer (1854 [in 1852–1860]: pl. 161, figs. 18–20); Tryon (1886 [from Reeve, 1852]: pl. 54, fig. 15).

Remarks: Helix hypopolea Reeve, 1852 and H. hypopolia Pfeiffer, 1853 are based on the same type material, which H. Cuming had obtained from the Australian-based naturalist Frederick Strange. Pfeiffer evidently intended to publish the original description of this species in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London issue for 1851 (see Reeve 1852 [in 1851–1854]: species 787; Pfeiffer 1853a: 69, 1854 [in 1852–1860]: 496), but publication was delayed until 1854 ( Pfeiffer 1854b: 148), and was pre-empted by Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]). Authorship of this species has generally been attributed to Pfeiffer (e.g., Hector 1873: 9; Hutton 1880: 6; Suter 1913b: 626; Powell 1979: 315; Spencer et al. 2009: 216), but Reeve (1852) has priority. There has been considerable confusion over the identity of this species among New Zealand workers (e.g., compare distribution records of Hutton 1880: 6; Hutton 1884b: 205; Hedley & Suter 1893: 635; Suter 1894d: 244; Suter 1913b: 627; Powell 1979: 315; Climo & Mahlfeld 1998). Re-examination of the type material of H. hypopolea and H. hypopolia indicates that most records of this taxon were based on misidentifications. The only specimens in the NMNZ collection that match the type material are from the area between Springfield and Arthurs Pass, inland Canterbury, South Island (e.g., NMNZ M.37000, M.37291, M.114272, M.159692). This suggests that the type material was probably collected by Strange during his trip up the Waimakariri River valley in March 1849 (see Introduction).

Taxonomy: Phacussa hypopolea (Reeve, 1852) n. comb. is accepted here as an available valid name. Helix hypopolia Pfeiffer, 1853 is an objective junior synonym.

Distribution: New Zealand; South Island, known from inland Canterbury in the vicinity of the upper Waimakariri River Valley—this study.