The unraveling of this confusion exposes us to some unusual nomenclatorial and taxonomic situations. Our topical shell clearly has close affinities with Lobosculum [TS Helix pustula Férussac, 1832 SD Pilsbry, 1930: 319; see Lobosculum pustula (Férussac, 1832) Grooved Liptooth. Nonetheless, based on its lack of a penial appendage, Emberton (1995) was the first to transfer this species to Daedalochila Beck (1837: 21) [TS Polygyra auriculata Say, 1818: 277-278 SD Herrmannsen (1847: 369;], an interesting placement on conchological grounds as the labral lamella lacks the exclusive generic character, the "uvula" of Shuttleworth; see Daedalochila uvulifera (Shuttleworth, 1852) Peninsula Liptooth. Pilsbry (1940: 607) was aware of the genital deficiency in this species but considered the (absent) feature to be a convergent character and grouped the Férussac taxon with Lobosculum rather than Daedalochila. Emberton was dedicated to an unbiased cladistic approach and apparently wasn't able to factor in Pilsbry's hypothesis.

    Getting a handle on the type species of Lobosculum requires an immersion in one of the more Byzantine Nineteenth Century conchological works, that of Andre Étienne Just Pascal Joseph François d’Audebard, Baron de Férussac, to whom this species, Helix pustula, is attributed. The description consists of (1) the figures (Férussac, 1822: plate 50, figs. 1; vidi, but subsequently removed from on-line access) and (2) the plate explanation (Férussac, 1832 Tome 1: 78), neither by itself constituting a nomenclatorial action. Many authors, e.g., Pilsbry (loc. cit.) mistakenly concluded that the two publications were concurrent and cited 1822 as the date of description for this and many other taxa actually not made available until later publication by the author. Not affecting our species, but impacting lots of others is a similar misunderstanding of the Baron's convoluted work: many of the new taxa he proposed in a related work the preceding year (Férussac, 1821) were incorrectly characterized by Sherborn (1922-1932) as "n[omina]. n[uda]." Sherborn overlooked the fact that most of them were made available when the companion plates, along with those of work involving H. pustula, appeared a decade later. Most of the blame for these misinterpretations of the context (Férussac and Deshayes, 1819-1851) can be attributed to the rarity of the work and chronology of its publication (vide infra for discussion and collation). That detraction is greatly offset by the generally very well-executed figures, far above the standard of the day. Unfortunately, as with many of the smaller species, those of H. pustula are not of the exquisite caliber of the majority, yet the similarity between H. pustula Férussac and H. leporina Gould is quite evident.

    Back to the Twentieth Century .... the vernacular name provided by Fred Thompson (in Turgeon, Quinn, et al., 1998), may prove less mutable than its scientific counterpart. I ask the reader to determine its proper generic placement based on the evidence presented here; it appears that my hasty nomination of Inflectarius should be withdrawn from the slate of contenders.

Beck, H., 1837-1838. Index Molluscorum praesentis aevis Musei Principis Augustissimi Christiani Frederici. Copenhagen. [1837: pp. 1-100; 1838: pp. 101-124; 1-8].

Binney, A. [ed. A.A. Gould], 1857. The terrestrial air-breathing mollusks of the United States and the adjacent territories of North America. vol. 3. Little Brown, Boston. pp. 6-40 + 84 pls. [1-74 +10 bis; recto: majority hand-colored; verso: uncolored duplicates of recto, except pl. 71 verso only; total 167; several artists and engravers].

Emberton, K.C., 1995. "When shells do not tell: 145 million years of evolution in North America’s Polygyrid land snails, with a revision and conservation priorities". Malacologia 37: 69-110.

Férussac [A.E.J.P.J.F. d’A.], Baron de, 1821. Tableaux systématiques des animaux mollusques classés en familles naturelles, dans lesquels on a établi la concordance de tous les systèmes; suivis d’un prodrome général pour tous les mollusques terrestres ou fluviatiles, vivants ou fossils. [Premiere Partie Tableaux systématiques généraux de l’embranchemant divisés en familles naturelles] Deuxième partie (premiere section.). Tableaux particuliers des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles, présentant pour chaque famille les genres et espèces qui la composent. Bertrand, Paris. [i]-xlvii + [i] + [3]-27 + [3]-110 + [i].
This monograph forms a part of the author's larger work, Férussac and Deshayes, 1819-1851; vide infra.

¹ ² Férussac, A.E.J.P.J.F. d’A. de and G.-P. Deshayes, 1819-1851. Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles, tant des espèces que l'on trouve aujourd'hui vivantes, que des dépouilles fossiles de celles qui n'existent plus; classés d'après les caractères essentiels que présentent ces animaux et leurs coquilles. J.-B. Bailliere, Paris. Tome 1: 8 + 184 pp [not seen]; Tome 2 (1): 402 p.; Tome 2 (2): 260 + 22 + 16 pp; ³ Atlas 1 (Tome 3): pls. 1- 70; º Atlas 2 (Tome 4): pls. 71-166 + pls. 1-5.

Gould, A.A., 1848. Untitled ["Shells collected by Mr. J. Bartlett, in the south-western States, for the late Dr. Binney ..."]. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 3: 37-41.

Herrmannsen, A.N., 1846-1847. Indicis Generum Malacozoorum Primordia, Nomina subgenerum, generum .... vol. 1. Theodor Fischer, Cassell. pp. i-xxvii + 1-637. Sept. 1-July 17 (in 6 parts)


Pilsbry, H.A., 1930. "Anatomy and relationships of some American Helicidae and Polygyridae". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 82: 303-327 [not seen]

Pilsbry, H.A., 1940. Land Mollusca of North America (north of Mexico) vol. 1 part 2. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. v + 575-994 + ix. 1 Aug.

Say, T., 1818. "Account of two new genera and several new species, of fresh water and land shells". Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(2): 276-284. July.

Sherborn, C.D., 1922-32. Index animalium sive index nominum quae ab A. D. MDCCLVIII generibus et speciebus animalium imposita sunt. Sectio secunda. A Kalendis Ianuariis, MDCCCI usque ad finem Decembris, MDCCCL. Longsmans, Green, & Co. and British Museum (Natural History), London. cxxxi + 7,056 pp.

Turgeon, D.D., J.F. Quinn, Jr., A.E. Bogan, E.V. Coan, F.G. Hochberg, W.G. Lyons, P.M. Mikkelsen, R.J. Neves, C.F.E. Roper, G. Rosenberg, B. Roth, A. Scheltema, F.G. Thompson, M. Vecchione, and J.D. Williams, 1998. "Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: mollusks, 2nd edition". American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 26, Bethesda, Maryland. ix + pp. 1-509 + 16 pls. (unpaginated).