Testacella vagans Hutton, 1882

Brook, Fred J., Kennedy, Martyn, King, Tania M., Ridden, Johnathon, Shaw, Matthew D. & Spencer, Hamish G., 2020, Catalogue of New Zealand land, freshwater and estuarine molluscan taxa named by Frederick Wollaston Hutton between 1879 and 1904, Zootaxa 4865 (1), pp. 1-73 : 55-56

Testacella vagans Hutton, 1882

Pl. 6, fig. G

Hutton, 1882 . The New Zealand Journal of Science, 1: 282.

Type material. Lectotype (designated by Barker 1999: 98), CMNZ M352 & paralectotypes (2), CMNZ M5033 [ex ZS 1098] (dry shells). The molluscan collection at CMNZ has a radula mounted on a glass slide with the label details ‘ Testacella vagans , Auckland, XVI, pl. 9, fig. T’ ( CMNZ 2017.17.57) in Hutton’s handwriting (i.e., CMNZ 2017.17.57), which is probably primary type material.

Label details. CMNZ M352—‘ Auckland, Hutton coll.’

Type locality. ‘ Auckland (T. F. Cheeseman)’ ( Hutton 1882p: 282 ); ‘ Auckland (T.F. Cheeseman), and Waiuku (T. Kirk)’ ( Hutton 1883d: 140 ).

Previous illustrations of type material. Radula teeth of Testacella vagans illustrated by Hutton (1884b: pl. 10, fig. T) probably from type material.

Remarks. Hutton (1882h: 152, pl. 3, fig. E, pl. 4, fig. M) described and illustrated the radula of a semi-slug, that had been “collected by Mr. T. Kirk, at Waiuku, in the Lower Waikato district ”. He identified this specimen as Daudebardia novoseelandica Pfeiffer [= Rhytididae ], albeit noting that its distinctive barbed teeth “appear to belong to Testacella ”. Hutton subsequently received additional specimens from Thomas Cheeseman that had been collected from gardens in the vicinity of Auckland and decided that they belonged to a new species of Testacella . He submitted a description of Testacella vagans to the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute issue for 1882, but publication was delayed until May 1883 ( Hutton 1883d: 140 ), and was pre-empted by a brief description in an account of a meeting of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury ( Hutton 1882p: 282 ). A shell from the type series (lectotype) of T. vagans is illustrated here for the first time in pl. 6 fig. G. Cheeseman (1887: 170) suggested that vagans may “prove to be the European H. maugei , and that it is only naturalised in New Zealand ”. Musson (1891: 885) and Suter (1892b: 279) also considered that T. vagans was adventive in New Zealand, and it was listed as a junior synonym of T. maugei Férussac, 1819 by Hedley & Suter (1893: 665), Suter (1913: 1073), Thomson (1922: 259), and as a junior synonym of T. haliotidea Draparnaud, 1801 by Barker (1979: 414, 1982: 177). Barker (1999: 98) later concluded that T. vagans was conspecific with T. maugei , based on examination of type material. The latter species is thought to be native to the Atlantic coastal zone between Morocco and NW France, and Canary, Azores, Madeira and Channel Islands ( Welter-Schultes 2012: 419), and has been introduced to South Africa and New Zealand ( Barker 1999, Herbert 2010). Hutton’s (1882h,p) descriptions are the earliest record of T. maugei from New Zealand. At present the only confirmed records are from the Auckland region, where this species is still extant locally in modified urban habitats (F. Brook pers. obs.). According to Barker (1999: 99), records of Testacella from elsewhere in New Zealand were based on T. haliotidea Draparnaud.

Current taxonomy. A subjective junior synonym of Testacella maugei Férussac, 1819 — Hedley & Suter (1893: 665), Suter (1913: 1073), Thomson (1922: 259), Barker (1999: 99).

Part 3: Land snail species with type material incorrectly stated to be from New Zealand

Subclass Caenogastropoda

Order Architaenioglossa