The identity of Melanella dufresnii Bowdich, 1822, and other species of Eulimidae (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia) described earlier

The type species of Melanella Bowdich, 1822, is M. dufresnii. The identity of this species has been conjectural, and hence the attribution of species to this genus has been uncertain. All earlier described species currently assigned to the Eulimidae are considered, in order to establish that M. dufresnii is the valid name for the species often identified as Eulima arcuata Sowerby. The taxonomic history of Melanella and Eulima is discussed in relation to other European Eulimidae, and the synonymy and typification is brought up to date from recent rulings of the ICZN and work published since Warén’s (1984) revision of eulimid genera.