HALIOTIDAE Rafinesque, 1815

Herbert, David G., 2015, An annotated catalogue and bibliography of the taxonomy, synonymy and distribution of the Recent Vetigastropoda of South Africa (Mollusca), Zootaxa 4049 (1), pp. 1-98 : 14

FAMILY: HALIOTIDAE Rafinesque, 1815

Haliotis Linnaeus, 1758 . Type species (s.d. Montfort 1810): Haliotis asinina Linnaeus, 1758 .

Following Geiger & Owen (2012) I have not assigned the South African Haliotis species to subgenera, due to the lack of a robust phylogenetic framework upon which to base subdivision of the genus. Surprisingly, given the morphological diversity evident, the five species comprising the largely endemic South African radiation cluster as a monophyletic lineage in molecular analyses (Bester-van der Merwe et al. 2012). If further research with a broader sampling of taxa confirms this, then two names are available for this group, Padollus Montfort, 1910 [type species (o.d.): Padollus rubicundus Montfort, 1810 (non Röding, 1798) = Haliotis parva ] and Euhaliotis Wenz, 1938 [type species (o.d.): Haliotis midae ]. Since Padollus is the older name, it has priority over Euhaliotis . H. pustulata may be referable to Sulculus H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854 , whereas the affinity of H. unilateralis is uncertain.