Helix decidua Pfeiffer, 1857
publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4697.1.1 |
publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:AF79BEA3-3CC8-49CA-9707-A8D5B4DAACD |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/437587C2-FF9B-6561-FF02-EDB4D05C1525 |
treatment provided by |
Plazi |
scientific name |
Helix decidua Pfeiffer, 1857 |
status |
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Pfeiffer, 1857. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 25: 108.
Type material: Original description based on one or more specimens in the Cuming collection; type material not found in NHMUK collections in 2018, whereabouts unknown .
Type locality: ‘New Zealand’ ( Pfeiffer 1857b: 108).
Remarks: There are no published illustrations of the type material. Hutton (1884b: 203) and subsequent authors have generally included this species in the genus Therasia Hutton, 1883 (e.g., Pilsbry 1892 [in 1892–1893]: 71; Hedley & Suter 1893: 641; Suter 1894d: 245, 1904a: 63, 1913b: 657; Powell 1979: 316; Spencer et al. 2009: 216), but this appears to be based on a misinterpretation. Pfeiffer’s original description referred to a ‘depressed turbiniform’ shell, of five whorls, that was 3.5 mm wide and 2 mm high. By contrast, descriptions and illustrations by later authors (e.g., Hutton 1884b: 203; Pilsbry 1892 [in 1892–1893]: 71, pl. 22, figs. 52–54; Suter 1913b: 657, pl. 50, fig. 8; Powell 1979: 316) referred to shells that were much larger and more loosely-coiled, with diameters of c.8.0–9.5 mm, and which were almost certainly not conspecific with Helix decidua Pfeiffer. In the absence of the type material it is not possible to reliably determine the identity of Pfeiffer’s species, but the original description suggests that it is probably a species of Laoma Gray, 1850 or Phrixgnathus Hutton, 1883 , sensu Suter (1913b) and Powell (1979) [ Punctidae ].
Systematic position: Not determined.
Distribution: Probably native to New Zealand, but regional distribution not known.
NHMUK |
Natural History Museum, London |
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
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