natural, history

Palaeohelicina Wagner 1905'Palaeohelicina Wagner 1905, Denks. Akad. der Wissen., 77: 435.Type species, Helicina ftscheriana (here designated).Palaeohelicina s. s. is limited in its distribution to New Guinea, the Louisades,Bismarks and Solomon Islands, and is probably a derivative of the more widespreadCerotopoma which ex.tends to New Caledonia and the Philippines. However, thelimits assigned to these two groups are not definite as the characters more or lessoverlap.Paloeohelicina probably originated in the New Guinean center and subsequentlyspread to the Philippines by way of Halmahara and south over the Bismark-Solomonchain to New Caledonia. The genus has also penetrated Australia into Queensland.Palaeobelicina (Palaeobelicioa) moquiniana RecluzHe/icina moquiniona Recluz 1851. Jour. de Conch .. 2: 212, pI. 5, fig. 8. (L'ile Salomon);PFEIFFER 1852, Mono. Pneumonopomorum Viven .. I: 393; ibid. 1858,2: 213: GRAY 1852, Catalogue of Pulmonata in the Collection of the British Museum.I: 286; PFEIFFER 1854, Malak. Blatt. I: 108; SOWERBY 1873. Conch. Icon ..19. He/icina. pI. 26, fig. 231; SMITH 1885. Proc. Zoo!. Soc. London. p. 598; Guppy1887, The Solomon Islands and Their Natives. London. I: 345.Trochatella moquiniana, H. and A. ADAMS 1856. The Genera of Recent Mollusca,2: 305; SOWERBY 1866. Thesaurus Conch .. 3: 294, pI. 277. fig. 419-420.Palaeohelicina moquiniana. WAGNER 1905. Denks. Akad. der Wissen., 78: 204. pI. 10,fig. la-d; WAGNER 1910, Conchy-Cab. (2). I. pt. 18. sec. 2. p. 238. fig. 6-10.Palaeohelicino moquiniana chr;'s~oralensis WAGNER 1905. Denks. Akad. der Wissen.,78: 205. pI. 10, fig. 2, (San Chrisloval. Solomon Islands): WAGNER 1910. Conchy­Cab. (2), I. pt. 18, sec. 2, p. 239. pI. 47. fig. II.Remarks. WAGNER has unduly increased the varieties in this and other speciesof the Helicinidae in the Solomon Islands. The differences mentioned for most ofhis new forms seem to be slight. and these differences are not even consistant in specimensfrom a single colony. His illustrations in the Conchylien Cabinet appear tobe overdrawn, and many of the characters are accentuated. However, I may be unfairto judge him without seeing the material from which he made his figures, but mycomparisons have been based upon a very large series of specimens collected on allof the islands from which WAGNER derived his material for his new forms.Specimens examined. Malaita: Alta; Auki. New Georgia: Morovo Lagoon.San Cristobal: Wainoni Bay: Pamua: Rava River: Kira. Santa Ana.Three Sisters Ids. Ugi Id.I. WAGNER (1905, p. 207) and THIELE (1929, p, 87) include Ceral(}pOma Moellendortf 1893, as asubgenus of Palaeohelicina. If Ceratopoma is found to be as closely related to Palaeohelicilla asthis classification would admit. Ceratupoma would have to become the genus and Palaeohelicinathe subgenus. MOELLENDORfF'S name has priority of twelve years.