Helix beta Pfeiffer, 1853

Pl. 2, fig. C

Pfeiffer, 1853. Monographia heliceorum viventium, 3: 112.

Type material: Syntypes (3), NHMUK 1962723 (dry shell material); ex. Mus. Cuming (Acc. no. 1829) .

Label details: ‘ H. beta Pfr., N. Zeland’ in Pfeiffer’s handwriting.

Type locality: ‘Nova Seelandia’ (Pfeiffer 1853a: 112).

Previous illustrations of type material: Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]: pl. 132, fig. 814—as Helix barbatula); Pfeiffer (1853 [in 1852–1860]: pl. 155, figs. 53–56); Climo (1980: figs. 1 A, B—as H. barbatula).

Remarks: Helix barbatula Reeve, 1852 and H. beta Pfeiffer, 1853 are based on the same type material, which H. Cuming had obtained from the Australian-based naturalist Frederick Strange. Pfeiffer evidently intended to publish the original description of this species in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London issue for 1851 (see Reeve 1852 [in 1851–1854]: species 814; Pfeiffer 1853a: 113; Pfeiffer 1854 [in 1852–1860]: 462), but publication was delayed until 1854 (Pfeiffer 1854a: 58), and was pre-empted by Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]).

Current Taxonomy: Treated as an objective junior synonym of Helix barbatula Reeve, 1852 by Suter (1913b: 698) and Climo (1980: 295).