Athoracophorus verrucosus Simroth, 1889

Simroth, 1889. Nova acta Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Germanicae Naturae Curiosorum, 54: 77 ( verrucosus and var. nigricans), 79 ( var. fuscatus).

Type material: Lectotype (designated by Barker 2018), ZMB MOLL30998 ( var. nigricans), and paralectotypes (3), ZMB MOLL30999 ( var. fuscatus) (in alcohol) (Kilias 1974: 350).

Label details: ‘ New Zealand, Auckland Isl., leg.: Krone’.

Type locality: ‘Auklandinsel’ (Simroth 1889: 70).

Remarks: Erection of Athoracophorus verrucosus was based on descriptions of two varieties, namely var. fuscatus and var. nigricans, from specimens collected in 1874 by the naturalist and photographer Herman Krone, during a German expedition to the Auckland Islands to observe a transit of Venus. Simroth (1889: 79) noted that E. von Martens provided the species and variety names, but Simroth himself was responsible for the nomenclatural act of publishing both the names and descriptions (see Barker 2018: 229). Correspondence from Martens to Suter, quoted by Hedley (1893d: 158), indicates that the name “ fuscata is a writing—or printer’s—error”, and that Martens had intended to name this variety fasciatus (see also Suter, 1913b: 808; Barker 2018: 223). There are no published illustrations of type material. The varieties fuscatus and nigricans were differentiated on the basis of coloration. Suter (1913b: 808) and Burton (1963: 59) noted that external morphological characters and anatomy were identical in the two varieties, and the latter author implicitly treated them as synonyms of verrucosus . Under ICZN Art.72.4.1 the type material of var. fuscatus and var. nigricans is excluded from the type series of verrucosus . However, Barker (2018) noted that there is a deficiency in the Code for species lacking type material, and he selected a syntype of var. nigricans as the provisional lectotype of verrucosus, pending resolution of this issue in a future edition of the Code. Athoracophorus verrucosus is the type species of the monotypic genus Palliopodex Burton, 1963, by original designation.

Taxonomy: Listed as Palliopodex verrucosus (Simroth, 1889) by Burton (1963: 59; 1980: 184), Powell (1979: 301) and Spencer et al. (2009: 215).

Distribution: Auckland Islands (Simroth 1889; Suter 1913b; Burton 1963; Powell 1979).