The history of the name
Nassa is rather confused, because the name was allocated twice: •
Nassa Röding, 1798 for mainly muricid species with the type species :
Nassa picta Röding, 1798 (=
Nassa serta (Bruguière, 1798). •
Nassa Lamarck, 1799 : established for the species
Buccinum mutabile Linnaeus, 1758, which is now classified as a synonym of
Nassarius Duméril, 1805 in the family
Nassariidae. In the 19th and much of the 20th century, all species that were added to the genus
Nassa were Nassa mud snails belonging to the family Nassariidae. After the rediscovery of
Röding's catalogue of his collection
Museum Boltenianum sive catalogus cimeliorum e tribus regnis naturæ quæ olim collegerat Joa. Fried Bolten, M. D. p. d. per XL. annos proto physicus Hamburgensis. Pars secunda continens conchylia sive testacea univalvia, bivalvia & multivalvia, the muricid genus
Nassa Röding, 1798 was given priority over the genus
Nassa named by Lamarck.
Nassa Lamarck was then synonymized with its oldest synonym
Nassarius Duméril, 1806 by a ruling of the
ICZN Op. 96, Direction 48 (21 Nov 1956) and then to
Nassarius (Sphaeronassa) Locard, 1886. ==Description==