New names for four common Marginellidae (Mollusca : Gastropoda) from northern New Zealand

Abstract

The common littoral and shallow sublittoral New Zealand species hitherto identified as Marginella pygmaea Sowerby, 1846 and M. mustelina Angas, 1871, and a Kermadec Islands species similar to M. mustelina, are considered to be specifically distinct from Australian type material of these taxa. Marginella pygmaea is interpreted as a synonym of the Australian species Mesoginella turbinata (Sowerby, 1846) and the New Zealand species is described as new, together with a similar sympatric species. A New Zealand specimen is selected as neotype of Marginella fasciata Sowerby, 1846, which becomes the name for M. mustelina of authors, and the similar Kermadec Islands species is described as new.