From editor or global species database
Type species Linnaeus (1767:1268-9) included 7 species in Sabella, of which the last was Serpula penicillus Linnaeus 1758. As Serpula penicillus (recombined as Sabella) is the only remaining valid taxon of those included by Linnaeus (1767) it must be the only possible type, but the question is what species was it? Linnaeus (1758: 788) had based it on a species from Malta described by Ellis 1755: 92, plate 34. This is clearly what is now called Sabella spallanzanii and is not Sabella pavonina. Hartman catalogue (1959: 557) designates the Linnaean 'penicillus' as the type of the genus
Knight-Jones & Perkins (1998):391 discuss whether the errors in spelling and authority in the subsequent designation of a type species by Chenu (1859) are fatal to regarding that designation (of Sabella penicillus Savigny) as the first type designation. They point out that that Savigny's and Chenu's usages of "Sabella penicillus" from the Channel are probably S. pavonina, and if new and not usages of the Linnaeus name, are therefore a junior homonym. Thus (Editor's view) the designation by Chenu is wrong and an irrelevant side issue.
Type species as "Sabella penicillus Linnaeus 1767" as in Fauchald, 1977:140 is incorrect for genus (originally in Serpula) and date (originally 1758), but is derivative of the original name. [details]