OPINIONS RENDERED BY THE INTERNATIONAL 



COMMISSION ON ZOOLOGICAL 



NOMENCLATURE 



Opinions 115 to 123 



OPINION 115 



Status of Lcucochilus 



Summary. — The Commission herewith suppresses Lcucochilus von Martens, 

 1881, in favor of Lcncochila von Martens, i860, type Pupa fallax Say. Any 

 other course would involve risk of lasting and constant confusion in two 

 rather closely allied genera. 



Statement of case.— Dr. H. A. Pilsbry, of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, has presented the following case 

 for opinion : 



Leucochila was proposed by von Martens (Die Heliceen, i860, p. 296, " Typus 

 Pupa jallax Say") for two series of species (now ranked as two genera): 

 a, which we may call the series of Pupa jallax, and h, that of Pupa armijera. 



In 1881 (in von Martens' Conchologische Mittheilungen, p. 64) Dr. O. Boett- 

 ger proposed to relegate the group of Pupa jallax to the prior genus Buliniinns. 

 and to retain the name Lcucochilus for the relationship of Pupa armijera. A% 

 the same time, he cited Leucochila von Alartens as equivalent to Lcucochilus, as 

 in the appended facsimile : 



" II. Sect. Lcucochilus m. 



" ^ Leucochila Albers-Martens, Heliceen II. Ausg. i860, S. 296. 



" Indem ich die ungezahnten Arten der Gruppe der P. jallax Say aus vor- 

 benannter Section ausscheide und sie als Section zur Gattung Buliminus Ehrenb. 

 verweise, halte ich die Benennung Lcucochilus nur fiir die meist bleichgefarbten, 

 stark bezahnten, mit kraftiger, geschwungener, hiiufig zweitheiliger Parietal- 

 lamelle versehenen Fornien der Verwandtschaft der P. armijera Say aufrecht." 



Q. — Can Lcucochilus stand for the Pupa armijera group? Or is it synonym 

 of Leucochila? Or to be rejected as homonym of the prior Leucochila? 



Observations. — Usage is divided. Several German authors have used Lcuco- 

 chilus in the sense of Boettger. All recent American authors who have dealt 

 with the group have apparently thought that name unavailable, having used 

 the later name Bifidaria Stcrki for the group containing Pupa armijera. 



No type species has been designated for Lcucochilus except as implied in 

 the above extract. 



The name Bifidaria, for the same group, was properly defined and supplied 

 with a type. As the group is chiefly American, and does not occur in the 

 European fauna, no name for it can be said to be generally accepted in Europe, 

 nearly all authors mentioning the species using von Martens' nomenclature of 

 i860. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 73. No. 7 



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