Helix alpha Pfeiffer 1853

Pl. 6, fig. H

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

Type material: Syntypes, NHMUK 1985026 (1), NHMUK 1985027 (1) (dry shell material); ex. Mus. Cuming (Acc. no. 1829).

Label details: ‘ H. alpha Pfr. ’ in Pfeiffer’s handwriting. ‘N. Zealand’.

Type locality: ‘Nova Seelandia’ (Pfeiffer 1853a: 112, 1854a: 58).

Previous illustrations of type material: Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]: pl. 132, fig. 813)—as Helix stipulata; Climo (1980: figs. 1 C, D)—also as H. stipulata .

Remarks: Helix stipulata Reeve, 1852 and H. alpha 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 813; Pfeiffer 1853a: 112), but was delayed until 1854 (Pfeiffer 1854a: 58), and was pre-empted by Reeve (1852 [in 1851–1854]). Pilsbry (1892a: 55) designated H. alpha Pfeiffer, 1853 as the type species of Aeschrodomus Pilsbry, 1892, which was a replacement name for Thera Hutton, 1883 (non Stephens, 1831). However, the designation of Helix stipulata Reeve, 1852 as the type species of Thera by Hutton (1883c: 532) takes precedence by typification of the replaced name (ICZN Article 67.8).

Current Taxonomy: Treated as an objective junior synonym of Helix stipulata Reeve, 1852 by Hedley & Suter (1893: 659), Suter (1894d: 272, 1913b: 699), Powell (1979: 311) and Climo (1980: 294).