Helix (Carocolla) zelandiae Gray, 1843

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 : 64

Helix (Carocolla) zelandiae Gray, 1843

Gray [in Dieffenbach], 1843b. Catalogue of the species of Mollusca. In: Travels in New Zealand, Volume 2: 247, 262.

Type material: This included or comprised a specimen listed in the NHMUK accessions register for Mollusca as ‘ Helix zelandica , 1842.11.7.136’, which is interepreted here as a syntype; no material with this registration number was found during a search of the NHMUK type collection in 2018, and its whereabouts is unknown.

Type locality: ’ New Zealand’ (Gray [in Dieffenbach] 1843b: 247).

Previous illustrations of type material: A shell illustrated by Pfeiffer (1853 [in 1852–1860]: pl. 156, figs. 3–5) and Tryon (1886 [from Pfeiffer 1853]: pl. 63, figs. 63, 64) may have been from the type series, whereas one illustrated by Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]: pl. 129, fig. 780) was stated as being from the Cuming collection (possibly NHMUK 20150115 ), and there is no evidence to indicate that it was type material.

Remarks: The original description of this species, which was reproduced by Gray (1844: 375), did not state where in New Zealand it was collected, or by whom. The specimen in NHMUK 1842.11.7.136 was obtained by Dr Andrew Sinclair during a trip to New Zealand in 1841–1842 (see Introduction) and was probably collected at Auckland (see Gray 1850: 165). Pfeiffer (1848b: 81) gave a description of a specimen in the British Museum, which was probably from the type series, and listed its dimensions as “Diam. maj. 9, min. 9, alt. 5 mill. There has been confusion over the identity of Helix (Carocolla) zelandiae (e.g., Suter 1894e: 124). It has been interpreted as having a very wide distribution in New Zealand (e.g., Suter 1913b; Powell 1979), but this likely refers to a species complex (M. Kennedy & F. Brook unpub. data), and the identity and distribution of Gray’s species need to be re-evaluated. Helix zelandiae Gray, 1843 is the type species of Thalassohelix Pilsbry, 1892 , by original designation.

Current Taxonomy: Listed as Thalassohelix zelandiae (Gray, 1843) by Hedley & Suter (1893: 637), Suter (1904a: 67, 1913b: 631), Powell (1979: 317) and Spencer et al. (2009: 216).

Distribution: New Zealand; here considered restricted to northern North Island, in the vicinity of Auckland.