Table Of Content.
BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature50(3)September1993 205
Case 2871
Helix nitidula Draparnaud, 1805 and H. nitens Michaud, 1831
(currently Aegopinella nitidula and A. nitens; Mollusca, Gastropoda):
proposed conservation ofthe specific names and designation ofa
neotype for H. nitidula
Edmund Gittenberger
NationaalNatimrhistorisch Museum, P.O. Box9517. NL2300RA. Leiden.
TheNetherlands
Abstract.The purpose of this apphcation is to conserve the specific names of
Aegopinellanitidula(Draparnaud. 1805)andA. nitens(Michaud, 1831)whicharein
universal use for common terrestrial pulmonate species (family zonitidae) from
western Europe. Ithaslongbeen recognisedthattheexistingsyntypeofA. nitidula
isaspecimenofA. nitensanditisthereforeproposedthataneotypebedesignated
fortheformerspeciesinaccordancewithcurrentusage,soconservingalsotheusage
ofA.nitens.ThesuppressionisproposedofHelixnitensGmelin,[1791].alittle-used
seniorprimaryhomonymof//,nitensMichaud. 1831 butajuniorobjectivesynonym
of//. nitida Miiller, 1774. The name H. nitidula Draparnaud was placed on the
Official ListinOpinion 336(March 1955).
1 Draparnaud(1805,p. 117)establishedthenameHelixnitidulaforanewspecies
ofmollusc.Hedescribedthetaxonbutdidnotprovideafigureormentionalocality
orspecimens.HealsobrieflydescribedandfiguredH.nitidulavar.P(pp. 117,118,pi.
8,figs.21,22),notingthatitwas'unevarietepluspetiteetplussensiblementstriee'.
2. In 1894 Locard studied Draparnaud's mollusc collection, housed in the
Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna. Locard (1895, pp. 1-27) recorded that,
followingDraparnaud'sdeathin1804andthatofhiswidow,Draparnaud'sheirshad
soldthecollectiontotheMuseumin 1820;thisincludedtypematerialformanynew
taxa described m Draparnaud's publications Tableau des mollusques lerrestres et
fluviatilesdela France(1801) and Histoirenaturelledesmollusques ... delaFrance
(publishedposthumouslyin 1805). Locard(p. 13)recordedthat Draparnaud'sown
handwrittenlabels,givingthenameofthetaxon(withvarietiesindicatedbyGreek
letters)andthenumbercorrespondingtothatusedintheHistoirenaturelle,werestill
inplaceintheglasstubescontainingeachspecimen.However,Locardfoundthatthe
collection in 1894 was less complete than in 1820, and that the Museum register
recordedthatspecimensofseveralofthebetterrepresentedspecieshadbeengivento
BischofvonHohenwarth.
3. Locard(1895,p.26)notedthatofthetwooriginalspecimensofHelixnitidula
in Draparnaud'scollection in 1820onehad subsequentlybeen removed to Bischof
von Hohenwarth's collection (which is very probably now lost): he identified (pp.
147-150) the remaining specimen labelled as this species as an adult specimen of
//. nitens Gmelin, [1791] (see para. 5 below). He also noted that the specimen
describedandfiguredbyDraparnaudasH. nitidulavar. p(seepara. 1 above)wasa
206 BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature50(3)September1993
juvenileofatotallydistinctspecies. UnderArticle72b(i)oftheCodethisvariantis
excludedfromthetypeseriesofH. nitidula:itwashoweverincludedbybothLocard
(1895, pp. 26, 147, 148)and Forcart (1957, p. 203; 1959,p. 21; seepara. 4below).
Locard (p. 148) commented that authors had been inconsistent in their use ofthe
namenitiitula: Rossmassler(1835, p. 72, pi. 1, fig. 24; 1838, p. 36, pi. 39,fig. 526),
Dupuy (1848-1849, pp. 226-228, pi. 10, fig. 5) and Westerlund (1886, p. 57) had
describedunderthisnameaspecieswhichdifferedfromthatofDraparnaud(1805)
and Dupuy'sfigureshowedamoreroundedshellthanthat ofRossmassler.
4. Forcart(1957,p.203; 1959,pp.21-22)commentedthatthecurrentconceptof
H.niiiduladifferedfromthetaxondescribedbyDraparnaud(1805)underthatname,
and that Draparnaud's (p. 118) statement 'Animal gris de perle, tachete de points
noirsetblancs"didnotapplytoanyspeciesofAegopinellaLindholm,1927(thegenus
inwhichniiidulaauctt. isnowplaced). Forcart (1957, 1959)notedthat thecurrent
usage ofnitiduladated from Rossmassler(1835, 1838); he recorded (1957, p. 203;
1959,p.21,pi.3,fig.6)Draparnaud'sremaining(adult)syntypeofH, niiidulaasa
fully-grownspecimenofH.nitensMichaud,1831(p.44,pi. 15,figs.1-5)(cfLocard's
identificationinpara.3),andthatthelatternamewasajuniorprimaryhomonymof
H. nitensGmelin, [1791](seepara. 5 below).
5. Gmelin ([1791], pp. 3624, 3633) included both PlanorbisnitidusMiiller, 1774
(p. 163)andHelixnitidaMiiller,1774(p.32)inHelixLinnaeus,1758;hereplacedthe
latter name with H. nitens Gmelin, [1791] (p. 3633), no doubt to avoid secondary
homonymy. Gmelin's taxonomic placement of P. nitidus was not subsequently
followed (see, forexample, Draparnaud, 1805, p. 46, pi. 2, figs. 17-19; pi. 8, figs.
11-12; Michaud, 1831, pp. 46, 82; and Dupuy, 1848, p. 222; 1850, p. 448) and
H.nitensGmelinhashadverylittleuseasavalidname.P.nitidusMiiller, 1774isthe
valid name ofthe type species by monotypy ofSegmentina Fleming, 1818 (family
PLANORBIDAE),whilst H. nitida Miiller, 1774isthetypebymonotypyofZonitoides
Lehmann,1862(familyzonitidae).ThenamesSegmentina,P.nitidus,Zonitoidesand
H. nitida have been placed on Official Lists (Opinion 335; March 1955). Forcart
(1957, p. 199) stated that G.L. Hartmann (1807, p. 222) and W. Hartmann (1821,
p. 232)employedthenameH. nitenssensuGmelin;however,helater(1959,p. 24)
concludedthatHartmann(1807)hadusedthenamesensuMichaud(1831). Forcart
(1959,p.24,pi.3,fig.9a-d)designatedaspecimenintheLyonMuseum,Franceas
thelectotypeofH. nitensMichaud.
6. Both the names nitidula Draparnaud, 1805 and nitens Michaud, 1831 are
universallyinuseforcommonterrestrialpulmonatespeciesofwesternEurope.The
taxaareconchologicallysimilarbuthaveditTerentdistributions.H. nitidulaoccursin
avarietyofhabitatsalongtheAtlanticsideofEurope from Spain to Scandinavia,
including the British Isles; it is absent from Switzerland. H. nitens is a montane
species,foundinabundanceintheFrenchandSwissJura.Bothnameshaveappeared
in field guides in a numberoflanguages, and in works on molluscan biology and
ecology,aswellastaxonomy. Recentpublicationsinwhichbothnameshavebeen
usedincludeJaeckel(1962,p. 131),Zilch(1962,p. 15), Lozek(1964,pp. 246,247),
Riedel (1966, p. 60), Kerney&Cameron(1979, pp. 121, 122), Kerney&Cameron
(1980, p. 136), Kerney, Cameron & Jungbluth (1983, pp. 165, 166), Pfleger &
Chatfield (1983, pp. 90, 193)and Gittenberger, Backhuys& Ripken (1984, pp. 87,
89). A list of a further 16 representative references is held by the Commission
BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature50(3)September1993 207
Secretariatforthenamenitidula, andafurthersixforniiens. ThenameH. nitiduki
wasincluded,withoutcomment,inthemolluscnamesplacedontheOfficialListin
Opinion 336(March 1955).
7. Recognition ofDraparnaud's (1805) syntype of//, nitidula would necessitate
usingnitidulaasthevalidnameforthespeciesnowcallednitensMichaud, 1831,with
nitensbecomingajuniorsubjectivesynonym. Anothernamewouldberequiredfor
nitidula as currently understood. These changes would cause considerable and
unnecessary confusion. I therefore propose that the current understanding ofthe
namenitidulashouldbeconservedbysettingasidethetypestatusofDraparnaud's
syntype and designating a neotype which accords with current usage (see para. 4
above). Since the zonitids in general and Aegopinella species especially are poorly
defined by shell characters, whereas the genitalia are more clearly diagnostic, a
specimen fromwhichbothshellfeaturesandanatomicaldatacanbedemonstrated
has been selected. The proposed neotype is from France (Department ofPas-de-
Calais, ForetdeGuines, 3 kmsouth-eastofGuines, UTM DS13).deposited inthe
NaturhistorischesMuseum,Vienna(catalogueno. 86934).Theshellis4.1 mmhigh
and8.1mmbroad.Ithasfourwhorlsthatincreaserelativelyslowlyandgraduallyin
width.ThegenitaliaaresimilartothosefiguredforthespeciesbyForcart(1959,figs.
6-8).A fulldescriptionandillustrationsofthespecimenaregivenbyGittenberger
(1993).IalsoproposethatthenameH.nitensMichaud,1831 shouldbeconservedby
thesuppressionoftheunusedseniorhomonymH. nitensGmelin, [1791].
8. Forcart (1957, p. 203; 1959, p. 22) proposed to apply to the Commission to
conservethecurrentusageof//, nitidulaDraparnaud,and(1957,p. 199; 1959,p.24)
toconservethenameniteiisMichaudbythesuppressionoinitensGmelin.However,
hemadenoapplication.Thispresentapplicationisknowntoseveralspecialistsinthe
field and there is agreement on the proposals. During a recent meeting (1992) on
European non-marine moUuscan nomenclature, held near Heidelberg, all the 20
participantsconcurredwiththeproposals.
9. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature is accordingly
asked:
(1) touseitsplenarypowers:
(a)to set aside thetype status ofthe syntype ofHelixnitidula Draparnaud,
1805andtodesignateasneotypethespecimenproposedinpara.7above;
(b)to suppress the specific name niiens Gmelin, [1791], as published in the
binomen Helixnitens, and all uses ofthe name Helixnitensprior to the
publication of Helix nitens Michaud, 1831, for the purposes of both
thePrincipleofPriorityandthePrincipleofHomonymy;
(2) toaddtotheentryforHelixnitidulaDraparnaud, 1805ontheOfficialListof
SpecificNamesinZoologytheendorsementthatitisdefinedbytheneotype
designatedin(l)(a)above;
(3) to place on the Official List ofSpecific Names in Zoology the name nitens
Michaud, 1831,aspublishedinthebinomenHelixnitensandasdefinedbythe
lectotypedesignatedbyForcart(1959);
(4) to place on theOfficial Index ofSpecificNames in Zoologythenamenitens
Gmelin,[1791],aspublishedinthebinomenHelixnitensandassuppressedin
(l)(b)above(ajuniorobjectivesynonymofthespecificnameofHelixnitida
MuUer, 1774).
208 Bulletinol"ZoologicalNomenclature50(3)September1993
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