Bulimulus ephippium Ancey, 1904

Breure, Abraham S. H., 2011, Annotated type catalogue of the Orthalicoidea (Mollusca, Gastropoda) in the Royal Belgian Institute of Sciences, Brussels, with descriptions of two new species, ZooKeys 101, pp. 1-50 : 15

Bulimulus ephippium Ancey, 1904 Figs 16C, 16ii

Bulimulus ephippium Ancey 1904: 102; Breure 1979: 62; Simone 2006: 118, fig. 361; Wood and Gallichan 2008: 44.

?Bulimulus ephippium Ancey; Breure 1978: 144, pl. 11 fig. 8.

Type locality.

"Bahia, Brazil (teste H. Fulton)".

Label.

“Bahia” in Fulton’s handwriting; taxon name in Ancey’s handwriting.

Dimensions.

"Longit. 20, diam. 12 mill."; lectotype H 19.5, D 12.5, W 5.5.

Type material.

RBINS/MT2350, lectotype (design. n.), ex Géret ex Ancey (Dautzenberg coll.).

Remarks.

Breure (1978) mentioned that he had found syntypes in both the NHM and RBINS collections and figured the species for the first time. He redescribed the species but noted that its classification remained doubtful. Nevertheless he arranged it under Bulimulus in his 1979 revision. Upon restudying both specimens, it is clear that the protoconch sculpture is quite different from the pattern normal for that genus; especially the thin spiral lines give a strong hint that it should be separated. For that reason it cannot be classified with Rhinus either, although it bears resemblance in shell shape to species of that genus. It is now considered as Simpulopsis (Eudioptus) , where it is the largest species. The RBINS specimen is here designated as lectotype.

Current systematic position.

Simpulopsidae , Simpulopsis (Eudioptus) ephippium (Ancey, 1904).