I was on a paleo fieldtrip with Alan Beu last week, and while looking
at a specimen of Austrocominella (a subgenus of Austrofusus) we'd dug
out of an Oligocene sand Alan asked if I'd heard the latest. It turns
out that Austrofusus, based on a South American species, is
signifiocantly different to the shells going by that genus in New
Zealand. Alan is disappointed to have to revert to an Iredale name
(Iredale had something wrong in his head) and abandon a long-used name
in New Zealand, but there's no option... for the NZ lineage, which
goes from at least the middle Eocene to present, Austrofusus is no
longer valid. Instead we have to use Aethocola Iredale 1915. Which
leaves me with a lot of updating to do on my fossils...

On other NZ-based generic taxa which turn up on auctions etc...

Microfulgur carinatus is Pararetifusus carinatus (Buccinidae);
Microfulgur is monotypic (Paleocene)
Latiromitra problematica is a Metzgeria (Turbinellidae: Ptychatractinae)
Waimatea is an outright synonym of Volutomitra, based on a NZ Eocene species
Turbo smaragdus is a Lunella (DNA indicates this, despite the shell differences)

And a few others in which incorrect usage persists:
Afer is Buccinidae, not Turbinellidae
Fusinus africanae (South Africa) is probably an Afer
"Benthovoluta" barthelowi is Latiromitra crosnieri
Exilia (synonyms: Benthovoluta)
Calliotectum (Teramachia), with only 2 living spp (possibly 3)
Melongena is an outright  synonym of Volema

And a personal opinion: Astralium is based on a species (A. phoebia)
which shows great similarities to the type species of the genus
Astraea (which supposedly has only 3 species). I can't see, based on
shell and opercular characters, that Astralium is anything but an
synonym of Astraea. If eventual DNA work confirms my view, then what
happens to all of those other species presently assigned to Astralium?

--
Regards
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
Fossil preparator
Mollusc, Toyota & VW van fanatic

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------