Dear Harry,
Thank you so much for your detailed comments on the taxonomy of Olivella japonica and the links that you provided. They are very helpful. I have used Clench and Turners's work on Pilsbry's names and was somewhat surprised when they missed O. japonica. I still have no idea why some researchers use 1910 as the date of publication for this name.
Thanks also for pointing me to this interesting comment on Arthur Adams' descriptive ability. In the Manual of Conchology Pilsbry also includes several rather sarcastic references to the quality of Adams' descriptions.
Perhaps Paul can enlighten us on the possibility that one or more of the "fortunei" specimens at the ANSP may be type material.
All the best from Jeju Island!
Ron
--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 2/8/15, Harry Lee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Correct Date (Olivella japonica)
To: [log in to unmask]
Received: Sunday, February 8, 2015, 6:04 AM
Dear Ron,
When I first responded I wasn't clear on the authorship
of the
Catalogue you cited. I now see that it is Pilsbry,
and I found the
original description of Olivella japonica Pilsbry,
1895:
"Olivella fortunei (Ad.) Marratt [sic; see
<
https://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0706D&L=CONCH-L&P=R4800&X=6F051FFD71B6701C8F&Y=hglee2%40mindspring.com
>]. PI. II, fig. 11. Thes. Conch., IV, pi. 350, f. 422,
423. Marratt's
[sic] figures but poorly represent the magnificent specimens
procured
by Mr. Stearns. The large dark form shown in the figure may
be called
var. japonica Stearns."
Now the problem changes a bit: how to deal with the
(Frederick, not
to be confused with the USNM's Dr. Robert Edward Carter)
Stearns
attribution? Stearns' participation in this opus was
made reasonably
clear in the preface (Pilsbry) and introduction (Stearns):
he collected
essentially all the material treated, had published a
catalogue of some
of the material (Stearns, 1891; no mention of any
Olivella
therein), and dissociated himself from the scientific
aspects of the
catalogue (" ... I beg to be considered only as an
amateur in
conchology, and the public will understand that whatever of
scientific
merit that this volume possesses, is due to my friend and
editor Prof.
H.A. Pilsbry."). It seems that Stearns'
scientific
contribution (NB: he published it) to this work
amounted to little
more than occasional manuscript communications, e.g., a
label. Ergo, to
the extent that this taxon is regarded as a species-level
taxon (as
permitted by the Code), the short version is:
Olivella
japonica Pilsbry, 1895: 23
<
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/77006#page/39/mode/1up>;
pl. 2, fig. 11
<
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/77006#page/215/mode/1up>.
In the interest of fairness, I must report that Higo,
Callomon, and Goto
(1999: 271) cite "Stearns in Pilsbry, 1895"
as
attribution for the nominal taxon, so you have a choice.
I haven't been at all tenacious in delving much deeper
here, but since
Higo, Callomon, and Goto (2001) didn't present a
photograph of a primary
type of Olivella fortunei var. japonica, I
tried to
determine the fate of such material. In the ANSP catalogue
database
<
http://clade.ansp.org/malacology/collections/search.php>,
there
are no hits for Olivella japonica, but under O.
fortunei
there are four lots in which Stearns received mention in the
chain of
ownership of Japanese specimen, two as collector and donor;
one as
collector only, and one as donor only. Could one or more be
type material
of our species? Paul C?
Higo, S., P. Callomon, and Y. Goto, 1999. Catalogue and
bibliography
of the marine shell-bearing mollusca of Japan Gastropoda -
Bivalvia -
Polyplacophora - Scaphopoda. Elle Publications, Osaka.
pp.
1-749.
Higo, S., P. Callomon, and Y. Goto, 2001. Catalogue and
bibliography
of the marine shell-bearing mollusca of Japan Gastropoda -
Bivalvia -
Polyplacophora - Scaphopoda. Type figures. Elle
Publications, Osaka.
pp. 1-208, incl. numerous color figures.
Stearns, F., 1891. A list of Mollusca and other forms of
marine life
collected in the years 1889-1890, in Japan. John F. Eby
and Co.,
Detroit. (1)-(20), pl. 1.
<
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/60301#page/7/mode/1up>
Pilsbry, H. A., 1895. Catalogue of the Marine Mollusks of
Japan, with
Descriptions of New Species, and Notes on Others Collected
by Frederick
Stearns. Detroit: F. Stearns, Detroit. (i)-viii +
"2'"
[error pro 1]-196 + 11 pls.
<
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/77006#page/9/mode/1up>
[get a load of the author's assessment of Dr. Arthur
Adams' conchological
prowess at bottom of
<
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/77006#page/11/mode/1up
>]
PS It seems that the Pilsbry biographers missed this
nomenclatorial act
even after a second try. Alan Kabat tells me it also escaped
Johnson and
Clench (2002). HGL
At 08:28 AM 2/7/2015, Harry Lee wrote:
Dear Ron,
It looks like you've done due diligence on this one - as
usual.
All I can say is that the name appears to have been proposed
in the 1895
work and is available under the provisions of the Code as of
that act (if
the same binomen hadn't previously been made available).
I'm not certain
how the Pilsbry attribution came into play, but the master
may have used
the name in ms only.
Have you checked Johnson and Clench (2002) just to be sure?
I don't have
it anymore.
Harry
Clench, W.J. and R.D. Turner, 1962. New names introduced by
H. A. Pilsbry
in the Mollusca and Crustacea. Academy of Natural
Sciences,
Philadelphia. Special Publication 4: 1-218.
<
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/28923>
Johnson, R.I. and W.J. Clench, 2002. Additions and
corrections to
Clench and Turner, 1962, New names introduced by H.A.
Pilsbry.
Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology,
Department of
Mollusks. 22 pp.
At 07:10 AM 2/7/2015, Ron G. Noseworthy wrote:
Hi, everyone!
I need some help with the correct date for a species.
While working
on gastropod species described by Henry Pilsbry which occur
here on Jeju
Island, I encountered a problem with the correct date for
Olivella
japonica. Some publications use 1895 as the date but
others use
1910. The Catalogue of Marine Mollusks of Japan (1895)
contains
what appears to be the first reference to O. japonica as
"Olivella
fortunei var. japonica, and a figure is given. I have been
unable
to find any 1910 publications by Pilsbry containing an
original
description of this species.
Can someone enlighten me as to the correct date for O.
japonica?
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
All the best from Korea! Ron
Noseworthy
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