Bulimus antipodarum 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 : 96

Bulimus antipodarum Gray, 1843

Pl. 15, fig. G

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

Type material: Whereabouts of holotype not known; not in the British Museum according to Smith (1874: 1), and presumably in Gray’s collection at that time (see Smith 1906: 712); not found in NHMUK collections in 2018.

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

Previous illustrations of type material: Smith (1874: pl. 1, fig. 5 [reproduced here in pl. 15, fig. G])—as Bulimus antipodum .

Remarks: The identity and taxonomic status of this species is not known. The original description, which was reproduced by Gray (1844: 375), was based on a single juvenile shell that was reportedly collected by Ernst Dieffenbach near Kaitaia. Gray (1843b [in Dieffenbach]: 247, 1844: 375) noted that it was very similar to Bulimus fulgetans (sic) Broderip ( Camaenidae ), from the Philippine Islands. Suter (1894a: 125–126, 1894c: 500–501) considered that subsequent additional records of Bulimus antipodarum from New Zealand (e.g., Gillies 1869: 467; Hutton 1880: 15, 1884b: 190; Hedley & Suter 1893: 632), were based on misidentifications of juvenile Placostylus (Bothriembryontidae) , and suggested that B. antipodarum was “in reality, Cochlostyla fulgetrum Broderip , introduced accidentally from the Philippine Islands ”. The shell dimensions quoted by Gray (1843b [in Dieffenbach]: 247), with “an axis 1 inch long, and the last whorl 1 inch in diameter”, do not match those of juveniles of Placostylus species from northern New Zealand. There have been no other records from New Zealand of shells matching Gray’s description and Smith’s illustration of Bulimus antipodarum , which suggests that the type material of this species was mis-localised.

Systematic position: Not determined.

Distribution: Not known.