Dear James,

The two taxa are synonymous; the trouble is the later name (N. r.) has been
used almost to the exclusion of the earlier one (N. u.).  This is how I
dealt with the problem in my manuscript on marine shells of northeast Florida:

"Neritina reclivata  (Say, 1822)  Olive Nerite  [1]  20 mm.
Water’s edge, Charter Point, St. Johns River, 2.0 mi N.E. Jacksonville. BH!
2/24/76. (BH).
Water’s edge, Ortega Forest, Ortega River, 5.2 mi. S.S.W. Jacksonville.
HL,HM! 8/10/79. (HL).
HM maintained this specxies in a freshwater aquarium for over a year. It
fed on carpets of filamentous green algae. Porter (1974) synonymizes this
with N. usnea (Röding, 1798). This action is considered accurate, but the
latter name had not been employed for over 150 years. Jacksonville may be
taken as the type locality (Say, 1822)."

Harry


At 07:16 PM 11/16/99 -0800, you wrote:
>Dear all, yet another question. I have heard two names for
>this one species: Neritina reclivata and N. usnea. Now, which
>one is correct? If it is usnea, then can someone give me the author and
>date described?
>
>Thanks,
>James
>