Bulimus shongii Lesson, 1830

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 : 26

Bulimus shongii Lesson, 1830

Pl. 15, fig. A

Lesson, 1830. Mollusques pl. 7, figs. 4, 5. Voyage autour du monde exécuté par ordre du Roi, sur la corvette de Sa Majesté, La Coquille, pendant les années 1822, 1823, 1824 et 1825. Zoologie 1 (2) livraison 17. Bertrand, Paris. [Description published separately by Lesson (1831 [in 1830–1831]: 321)—see Cretella, 2010 for compilation)].

Type material: Present whereabouts not known, possibly lost or destroyed.A purported syntype of Bulimus shongii in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, MNHN-IM-2000-28168, from Baron d’Audebert de Férussac’s collection, does not match the original illustration of B. shongii by Lesson (1830), and is probably mislocalised. It appears to be conspecific with syntypes of Bulimus danieli Crosse, 1855 , MNHN-IM-2000-21336, from New Caledonia. The latter name was listed as a junior synonym of Limax fibratus Martyn, 1784 by Neubert et al. (2009: 51).

Type locality: ‘C’est près de la cascade de Kiddi-Kiddi [= Kerikeri], sous les arbres qui bordent la rivière du même nom’ (Lesson 1831: 322).

Previous illustrations of type material: Lesson (1830: pl. 7, figs. 4, 5).

Remarks: Bulimus shongii was described from one or more specimens collected in the Bay of Islands in 1824, during a visit by the French corvette Coquille, and was named after the Ngapuhi chief Hongi Hika. Species name emended to hongi by Lesson & Martinet (1884: 228), and to hongii by Suter (1901: 152, 1902b: 208, 1904: 59, 1913b: 765) and subsequent authors. Because the latter spelling has been in prevailing use since 1901 it qualifies as a justified emendation of the original species name (ICZN Article 33.2.3.1). Bulimus shongii Lesson, 1830 is the type species of Maoristylus Haas, 1935, by original designation. Neubert et al. (2009: 45) treated Maoristylus as a junior synonym of Placostylus Beck, 1837 .

Current Taxonomy: Listed as Placostylus hongii (Lesson, 1830) by Suter (1902b: 208, 1904: 59, 1913b: 765), Powell (1938: 144, 1979: 350), Neubert et al. (2009: 45) and Spencer et al. (2009: 215). Bulimus novoseelandicus Pfeiffer, 1861 is a junior synonym ( Powell 1938: 144, 1979: 350).

Distribution: New Zealand; northern North Island—eastern Northland and Hauraki Gulf islands ( Powell 1938; Brook & McArdle 1999).