Vitrina zebra Le Guillou, 1842

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 : 63-64

Vitrina zebra Le Guillou, 1842

Le Guillou, 1842. Revue Zoologique par La Société Cuvierienne, (1842): 136.

Type material: Probably formerly in MNHN but lost or destroyed (see below) .

Type locality: ‘Les îles Auckland’ ( Le Guillou 1842: 136)—probably an error (see below).

Remarks: There are no published illustrations of the type material of this species. The description was based on one or more specimens collected in 1840, purportedly at Auckland Islands, during Dumont D’Urville’s South Pole expedition. The same species was later described under another name, Helix multilimbata Hombron & Jacquinot, 1847 , from material collected during the same expedition. The shell dimensions reported for V. zebra and H. multilimbata by Le Guillou (1842) and Rousseau (1854), respectively, are very similar, and it seems likely that the description by Le Guillou (1842) and illustrations by Hombron & Jacquinot (1847) were based on the same specimen. The latter was presumably part of the official expedition collection sent to MNHN in 1841, or in material donated to that museum by Le Guillou (see Clark & Crosnier 2000: 419, 423). A comment by Rousseau (1854: 1) suggests that the type material had subsequently been lost or destroyed: «Cette coquille, que nous ne connaissons que par la figure donnée par MM. Hombron et Jacquinot.» The type locality of V. zebra cited by Le Guillou (1842) is the only record of this species from Auckland Islands. No additional records were listed in accounts of the land snail fauna of these islands by Suter (1909a—as Flammulina phlogophora ), Powell (1955) or Mayhill & Goulstone (1986), and there are no specimens from Auckland Islands in New Zealand museum collections. This and the fact that the type locality of H. multilimbata was listed as ‘Nouvelle Zélande’ suggest that Le Guillou’s locality record was an error. After visiting Auckland Islands, D’Urville’s ‘South Pole’ expedition also called at Otago Harbour, Akaroa and Bay of Islands ( D’Urville 1846; Wright 1955), and it is likely that the type material of V. zebra and H. multilimbata was collected at either Otago Harbour or Akaroa. Vitrina zebra Le Guillou, 1842 is the type species of Flammulina Martens, 1873 , by subsequent designation of Pilsbry (1893 [in 1893–1895]: 17). The following are junior synonyms: Helix multilimbata Hombron & Jacquinot, 1847 , Helix phlogophora Pfeiffer, 1850 and Helix flammigera Pfeiffer, 1854 (e.g., Martens 1873: 12; Hutton 1884b: 198; Hedley & Suter 1893: 643; Suter 1913b: 680; Powell 1979: 314).

Current Taxonomy: Listed as Flammulina zebra ( Le Guillou, 1842) by Pilsbry (1893 [in 1893–1895]: 17), Hedley & Suter (1893: 643), Suter (1894d: 238), Iredale (1915: 480), Dell (1954b: 141, 1955: 1140), Powell (1955: 122, 1979: 314) and Spencer et al. (2009: 215).

Distribution: New Zealand; southern North Island, and South, Stewart and Antipodes islands (Suter 1913b—as Flammulina phlogophora ; Dell 1954b; Powell 1955, 1979). Records of Flammulina zebra from Campbell Island (e.g., Powell 1979: 314; Spencer & Willan 1995: 40; Pugh & Scott 2002: 933) are unsubstantiated, and probably in error.