Hydrobia obtusa tenuis Wenz, 1913 non Penecke, 1886

Neubauer, Thomas A., Harzhauser, Mathias, Kroh, Andreas, Elisavet, Georgopoulou & Mandic, Oleg, 2014, Replacement names and nomenclatural comments for problematic species-group names in Europe's Neogene freshwater Gastropoda. Part 2, ZooKeys 429, pp. 13-46 : 30-31

Taxon classification Animalia ORDO FAMILIA

Hydrobia obtusa tenuis Wenz, 1913 non Penecke, 1886

Hydrobia obtusa [] mut. tenuis n. mut. Wenz, 1913: 113, pl. 1, figs 12-15.

Hydrobia obtusa tenuis Wenz; Wenz 1926: 1922.

Locality.

No type locality indicated; occurs in several places in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Age.

Early Miocene (Aquitanian, upper Corbicula beds = Rüssingen Formation).

Syntypes.

Only one of the syntypes is stored in the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, coll. no. SMF 245299/1 (pers. comm. R. Janssen, Frankfurt).

Discussion.

This tricky case requires a careful assessment of the original literature. Penecke (1886, p. 35) introduced a new species, Hydrobia tenuis , from the Paludina beds of Malino and Sibinj in Croatia. Later, Wenz (1913) described a different new taxon as Hydrobia obtusa tenuis from the Frankfurt area. Despite the identical naming, Wenz' taxon is no primary homonym. Since Wenz clearly introduced this taxon as "mutation" it is not available as species-group name ( ICZN 1999, Articles 45.5 and 45.6), although he erroneously cited it as "variety" when referring to his own work in the Fossilium Catalogus ( Wenz 1926). The latter record is in fact a nomen nudum (as is true for the mutations aperta, distorta, incrassata, and umbilicata). We are not aware of any work making Hydrobia obtusa tenuis available by treatment as valid species or subspecies ( ICZN 1999, Article 45.6.4.1).