On the World Record of Marine Species website (www.marinespecies.org), they list these genus, species and subspecies as valid names:

Genus Barbitonia Dall, 1916
Barbitonia arthritica (Bernardi, 1857)
Barbitonia arthritica arthritica (Valenciennes, 1858)
Barbitonia arthritica lurida (A. Adams, 1863)

Genus Neptunea Röding, 1798
Neptunea arthritica (Bernardi, 1857)

My two questions are:

1. Are Barbitonia arthritica (Bernardi, 1857) and Neptunea arthritica (Bernardi, 1857) the same species (and thus one name is invalid)? Note: Hardy's www.gastropods.com does not list Neptunea arthritica, which is what lead to my seeking clarification...

2. When a valid subspecies is named (in this case, B. arthritica lurida, in 1863), and the original species name is assigned a subspecies name (B. arthritica --> B. arthritica arthritica in this case), shouldn't this subspecies B. arthritica arthritica be assigned the earlier valid authorship (Bernardi, 1857, not Valenciennes, 1858)?

Thanks for any help.

Tom Ball

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