Helix poecilosticta Reeve, 1852

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 : 74

Helix poecilosticta Reeve, 1852

Pl. 8, fig. F

Reeve, (1851–1854) 1852. Conchologia iconica, 7: species 815, pl. 132 fig. 815.

Type material: Syntypes (15), NHMUK 20150114 (dry shell material); ex Museum Cuming (Acc. no. 1829) .

Label details: ‘n.sp. poecilosticta Pfr. var N. Zealand’—in Pfeiffer’s handwriting.

Type locality: ‘New Zealand’ (Reeve 1852 [in 1851–1854]: species 815).

Previous illustrations of type material: Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]: pl. 132, fig. 815); Pfeiffer (1853 [in 1852–1860]: pl. 156, figs. 11–13).

Remarks: Helix poecilosticta Reeve, 1852 and H. poecilosticta Pfeiffer, 1853 , are based on the same type material. Pfeiffer evidently intended to publish the original description of this species in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London issue for 1851 (see Reeve 1852 [in 1851–1854]: species 815; Pfeiffer 1853a: 59, 1854 [in 1852–1860]: 470), but publication was delayed until 1854 ( Pfeiffer 1854b: 147), and was pre-empted by Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]: species 815). Authorship was previously attributed to Pfeiffer (1853) (e.g., Hector 1873: 8; Hutton 1880: 17; Suter 1913b: 737; Powell 1979: 325; Spencer et al. 2009: 217), but Reeve (1852) has priority. Laoma poecilosticta conicula Suter, 1907 is not taxonomically distinct from Reeve’s species, according to Powell (1976: 118, 1979: 325).

Taxonomy: Phrixgnathus poecilostictus (Reeve, 1852) n. comb. is accepted here as an available valid name. Helix poecilosticta Pfeiffer, 1853 is a junior primary homonym and an objective junior synonym.

Distribution: New Zealand; North Island ( Suter 1913b; Powell 1979).