The double life of Bulimus ovoideus Bruguière, 1789: taxonomic implications for Streptaxidae and Camaenidae (Mollusca, Stylommatophora)

ABSTRACT

The name Bulimus ovoideus Bruguière, 1789 is in current use for two different species, one from East Africa and one from the Philippines. The name has also been declared as the type species of both Edentulina Pfeiffer, 1856 (Streptaxidae) and Cochlostyla Férussac, 1821 (Camaenidae). We demonstrate that the use of this name for a Philippine camaenid is based on an early misidentification. To clarify the situation, we invoke Article 70.3 of the Code of Zoological Nomenclature, concerning misidentified type species, to select the taxonomic species actually involved, Bulinus luzonicus Sowerby I, 1833, as the type species of Cochlostyla. Cochlostyla thus becomes a senior objective synonym of Canistrum Mörch, 1852. Under Article 40.2 of the Code, Helicostylinae Ihering, 1909 takes precedence of Cochlostylinae Möllendorff, 1890. We further show that the Philippine camaenids Orthostylus Beck, 1837 and Dryocochlias Möllendorff, 1898 are objective synonyms with the former name having priority. Finally, we designate a neotype for Bulimus ovoideus to stabilise its taxonomy. These actions permit the current nomenclature to be maintained with a minimum of disruption. The currently accepted name of the taxon in question is Edentulina ovoidea (Bruguière, 1789).

KEYWORDS:

• Nomenclature
• Gastropoda
• Stylommatophora
• Edentulina
• Cochlostyla
• Canistrum
• Dryocochlias
• Philippines
• Mayotte

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge helpful comments and advice from our colleagues Philippe Bouchet (Paris, France), Ruud Bank (Groningen, Netherlands), Eike Neubert (Bern, Switzerland), and Gizelle Batomalaque (Quezon City, Philippines), which were critical in solving this nomenclatural puzzle. In addition, we would like to thank Virginie Héros (MNHN) for promptly providing registration details for the selected neotype of Bulimus ovoideus as well as Mélanie van Weddingen (MNHN) for providing photographs of this specimen. We would also like to thank two reviewers, Barna Páll-Gergely and Ton de Winter, for constructive comments on the submitted manuscript, which were helpful in improving the quality of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).