Helix kermandeci Pfeiffer, 1857

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 : 66

Helix kermandeci Pfeiffer, 1857

Pl. 16, fig. D

Pfeiffer, 1857. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 24 (1856): 326.

Type material: Syntype (1), NHMUK 20190581 (dry shell material) .

Label details: ‘ kermandeci Pfr. ’ in Pfeiffer’s handwriting, ‘Kermandeck Islds., M.C.’.

Type locality: ‘ Sunday Island , Kermandec (sic) group’ ( Pfeiffer 1857a: 326) .

Remarks: Type material of this species has not been illustrated previously. Helix kermandeci was described from one or more specimens in the Cuming collection that had been obtained from William Chimmo. As noted in the introduction, Chimmo accompanied H.M.S. Herald on the first part of a hydrographic survey of the southwest Pacific in the early 1850s. The Herald visited Raoul Island in 1854, but Chimmo was not aboard at the time, and presumably obtained the type material of Helix kermandeci from another crew member. The original spelling of the species name kermandeci was emended to kermadeci by Iredale (1913: 374) and subsequent authors. Because the latter spelling has been in prevailing use since 1913 it qualifies as a justified emendation of the original species name (ICZN Article 33.2.3.1). Helix kermadeci Pfeiffer, 1857 is the type species of Kieconcha Iredale, 1913 , by original designation.

Current Taxonomy: Listed as Kieconcha kermadeci (Pfeiffer, 1857) by Iredale (1913: 374), Oliver (1915: 550) and Spencer et al. (2009: 216).

Distribution: Kermadec Islands; Raoul Island ( Pfeiffer 1857a; Iredale 1913, 1915b; Oliver 1915).