Helix coma, J.E.Gray, 1843

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 : 36

Helix coma var. β Pfeiffer, 1853

Pl. 4, fig. B

Pfeiffer, 1853. Monographia heliceorum viventium, 3: 99.

Material: Specimens (12), NHMUK 20130107 (dry shell material); ex Museum Cuming (Acc. no. 1829).

Label details: ‘N. Zealand’.

Locality: ‘Nova Seelandia’ ( Pfeiffer 1853a: 99).

Remarks: Helix coma var. β Pfeiffer, 1853 is not a valid taxon because the varietal name was not spelt out in the Latin alphabet in the original publication (see ICZN Article 11.2). Charopa coma var. beta of Hedley & Suter (1893: 641) and Suter (1894a: 128, 1894b: 148, 1894d: 262) is a nomen nudum. Patula coma forma globosa Suter, 1892, described from Forty-Mile Bush, near Hastwell, southern North Island, was listed as a synonym of H. coma var. β by Suter (1894d: 262, 1913b: 706). Pfeiffer’s var. β and Suter’s forma globosa referred to specimens that differed from typical Zonites coma Gray in having a more elevated spire and narrower umbilicus, but Suter (1892a: 273) noted at Hastwell “there are all intermediate forms to be found, from the flat, normal form, whose height is 0.12 in., to the globose form showing a height of 0.16 in.” Climo (1970a: 294) listed Helix coma var. β Pfeiffer, 1853 and Patula coma forma globosa Suter, 1892, as synonyms of Zonites coma Gray. One of Pfeiffer’s specimens of Helix coma var. β is illustrated here for the first time in pl. 4, fig. B.