Jassa californicus (Boeck, 1871)

The Norwegian scientist Axel Boeck (1871) described seven new species from a collection made in the San Francisco area of California and sent to him for taxonomic assessment and deposition in Norway by a Professor Esmark. One of these was Podocerus californicus, based on two female specimens. Stebbing (1906) recognized this species as Jassa californica . Conlan (1990) noted that the whereabouts of the type specimens was unknown. As a further effort to locate these specimens, The Natural History Museum, Oslo, Norway, which is the repository for Boeck’s collection, was contacted but the reply was, “...we have not any Podocerus californicus Boeck, 1871 in our collection, and Idon’t know where you can find it — if it exists...” (Åse Ingvild Wilhelmsen, 8 June 2018). It is possible that these specimens could have been any of the species indigenous to the California coast but named much later: J. slatteryi (Figs 3–4), J. morinoi (Figs 5–6), J. borowskyae, J. staudei, J. carltoni, J. shawi or J. myersi (Fig. 10). It is possible also that it could have been J. marmorata which would place its introduction to this area much earlier than is currently known.