Catalogue of the Neritidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) Described by Constant A. Récluz Including the Location of the Type Specimens

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences (Life Sciences)

Récluz, a nineteenth-century French conchologist, described almost two hundred species of Neritidae (Gastropoda).This paper catalogues the neritids of Récluz, and provides information on the type specimens in the British Museum (Natural History), the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Bruxelles, the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Genéve, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology.References to subsequent citations of these species (by Récluz and others) are given. OF THE NERITIDAE 225Sometimes, the locality was not originally mentioned, and it is uncertain as to whether some lots (especially in the Museum de Genève) are actually original syntype material.In such a case, the specimens are mentioned as "questionable type material".Recluz was not the only person to write on the neritids in the Cuming collection; REEVE also described numerous new species in his "Conchologia Iconica" (1855a-1856b), as did G. B. SOWERBY in his "Thesaurus Conchyliorum" (1849-1883).The latter authors also described and illustrated a number of Récluz manuscript names, which are cited herein as "Récluz in Reeve" or "Récluz in Sowerby".It is not always possible to fully reconcile these various names, illustrations (often improved upon the original) and type material.Incidentally, Sowerby recognized 212 recent neritid species and Reeve 291 such; there are probably fewer than 200 valid recent species.Several subsequent studies covering some of Récluz' neritids have been referred to in this paper.EDUARD VON MARTENS, in the "Systematischen Conchylien-Cabinet..." (1856-1889) was perhaps the first author to critically review the Neritidae, and synonymized numerous species of Récluz with older names.Nevertheless, von Martens recognized 215 recent neritid species, with an additional 102 species-names of uncertain status.The freshwater neritids of New Caledonia were reviewed by GASSIES (1863, 1871), CROSSE (1895) and FRANC (1957).BENTHEM JUTTING (1956, 1959, 1963) reviewed those of Java, Sumatra and western New Guinea [Irian Jaya], and provided partial synonymies, but few of the species were illustrated.PACE (1973) compiled a large number of "probable" or "potential" synonyms for the freshwater neritids of Taiwan, based primarily on the previous literature.STAR-MUHLNER (1970-1976) has treated the freshwater gastropods of oceanic islands in a series of monographs; the emphasis was on the anatomy and less on the original nomenclatural details.However, these and other authors have generally not referred to the original descriptions or type material of Récluz.It is obvious that a number of "mistakes" of von Martens (and others) have been repeated by subsequent authors who did not check the primary references.KOMATSU (1986) attempted an overall revision of the Neritidae, based on the type species of the genera, and figured several type specimens of Récluz and others.ELDREDGE (1987) provided an uncritical compilation of species originally described in Nerita; this work includes a number of species no longer referred to the Neritidae (e.g., now in the Naticidae), has numerous incorrect dates, especially with reference to species described in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London" (see DUNCAN, 1937), and there are problems with the attributions of authorship (e.g., taxa described in the 1798 "Museum Boltenianum" are attributed to Bolten rather than Roding).Eldredge's work is of some value in tracking down species of Nerita, although species described in other genera of the Neritidae are not included.