During a review of the molluscan type specimens at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP) it was discovered that in 1909 Anton Wagner inadvertently validated one of Henry Pilsbry's manuscript names for a helicinid species from the Ogasawara islands in Japan, and designated its holotype. In a 1956 paper, Tokubei Kuroda unintentionally validated two further Pilsbry manuscript names for taxa in this fauna. In 1980, Hiroshi Minato published a synopsis of the Helicinidae of the Ogasawara Islands, in which he introduced all three names as new.

A review is given here of the history of the three names, with selections and figures of two lectotypes. Taxonomically this is an unusual and interesting case, as ICZN Articles 11.6.1 and 50.7 are cited. The status of the apparently unpublished name subdiscrepans is reviewed.