Onchidium verruculatum, Cuvier, 1830: 46

Dayrat, Benoît, 2009, Review of the current knowledge of the systematics of Onchidiidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pulmonata) with a checklist of nominal species, Zootaxa 2068 (1), pp. 1-26 : 19

verruculatum Cuvier, 1830: 46 [ Onchidium ],

no locality mentioned [but very likely the Red Sea].

― Type material: specimens illustrated by Savigny (“ Descr. de l’Eg. , moll. gaster., pl. II, f. 3”); see below for discussion.

― Valid as Onchidium verruculatum ( Semper 1885; Plate 1893) and Peronia verruculata ( Labbé 1834; Britton 1984). Cuvier (1830: 46) did not accompany the name Onchidium verruculatum with a description. However , he refers to an illustration (“ Descr. de l’Eg. , moll. gaster., pl. II, f. 3”) which is one of the plates of mollusks published by Savigny (1817) in the famous Description de l’Egypte. As a result, Onchidium verruculatum is available and the type series consists of the specimens illustrated by Savigny (ICZN Art. 72.4). There is a specimen held by the MNHN labeled as Onchidium verruculatum , with the indication “Savigny Description Egypte, Mer Rouge [Red Sea], syntype, pl. 2, fig. 3,” which suggests that this specimen might be a specimen illustrated on Savigny’s plate 2. The plates published by Savigny (1817) did not include any species names. The animals illustrated by Savigny (1817) were named and described ten years later by Audouin (1827: 136—139) who refers to the figures 3.1–3.8 as Onchidium peronii . Interestingly , we learn from Audouin that this identification was suggested to him by Cuvier himself. Cuvier likely changed his mind between 1827 and 1830 and decided that the specimens illustrated by Savigny were a distinct species that he called O nchidium verruculatum . Savigny actually illustrated two specimens which look quite different: one specimen (figs 3.1–2) is much smaller than the other (fig. 3.3), and those two illustrations could actually refer to two distinct species ( verruculatum and peronii , respectively), which would explain Cuvier’s hesitation. This issue will have to be investigated in more depth (it will require to know more about the distinction between peronii and verruculatum ). If necessary, one of Savigny’s illustrations could be designated as the lectotype, and be linked to the MNHN specimen. Recluz (1869: 61) created Peronia savignii for Savigny’s misidentification of Onchidium peronii , which was emendated by Semper (1885: 260) as Onchidium savignyi (see those names). Finally, Peronia vermiculata Cuvier is a spelling mistake by Mörch (1872: 325); however, according to Hoffmann (1928) and Labbé (1934a), Mörch’s vermiculata refers to peronii instead of verruculatum .