Paryphanta hochstetteri var. obscura Beutler, 1901

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 : 80

Paryphanta hochstetteri var. obscura Beutler, 1901

Beutler, 1901. Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abteilung für Anatomie und Ontogenie der Tiere, 14: 372.

Type material: Whereabouts not known; not found in the Museum für Naturkunde , Humboldt—Universität zu Berlin (Christine Zorn pers. comm. 2018), Senckenberg Naturmuseum , Frankfurt (Ronald Janssen pers. comm. 2018) or the ‘ Überseemuseum Bremen’ which is now housed among the geological collections at Bremen University (Jens Lehmann pers. comm. 2018) .

Type locality: ‘ Bergmulden in der Nähe der Elsmly-Bay [= Elmslie Bay, French Pass] ( Neuseeland)’ ( Beutler 1901: 370) .

Remarks: This taxon was described from specimens collected by Hugo Schauinsland at Elmslie Bay in 1896– 1897, the shells of which differed from typical Helix hochstetteri Pfeiffer, 1861 in having a uniformly dark brown to black base. Powell (1930) recorded obscura as having a sparse distribution that included the western and northeastern Marlborough Sounds, and Gordon and Bryant ranges, but later ( Powell 1936, 1979) reinterpreted its distribution as being restricted to scattered populations in the western Marlborough Sounds and nearshore islands (below). He referred the local populations from eastern Marlborough Sounds, and Gordon and Bryant ranges, to Powelliphanta hochstetteri bicolor ( Powell, 1930) , and P. h. consobrina ( Powell, 1936), respectively.

Current Taxonomy: Listed as Powelliphanta hochstetteri obscura ( Beutler, 1901) by Meads et al. (1984: 293) and Walker (2003: 50).

Distribution: New Zealand; northern South Island, western Marlborough Sounds, Maud Island, D’Urville Island, and formerly also Takapourewa (Stephens) Island ( Powell 1936; Meads et al. 1984; Walker 2003).