Opinion 1634 Atheris Cope, 1862 (Reptilia, Serpentes): conserved

1 Pages·1991·0.3 MB·English

by  International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

84 BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature48(1)March1991
OPINION 1634
AtherisCope, 1862 (Reptilia,Serpentes): conserved
Ruling
(1) Under the plenary powers the generic name Chloroechis Bonaparte, 1849, is
herebysuppressedforthepurposesofthePrincipleofPrioritybutnotforthoseofthe
PrincipleofHomonymy.
(2) The name Atheris Cope, 1862 (gender: feminine), type species by subsequent
designationbyLoveridge(1957) ViperachloroechisSchlegel, 1855(ajuniorsubjective
synonym of Vipera chlorechis Pel, [1851]), is hereby placed on the Official List of
GenericNamesinZoology.
(3) Thename chlorechisPel, [1851], aspublishedinthebinomen Viperachlorechis
(seniorsubjective synonym ofthe specific name of Vipera chloroechis Schlegel, 1855,
thetypespeciesofAtherisCope, 1862),isherebyplacedontheOfficialListofSpecific
NamesinZoology.
(4) The name Chloroechis Bonaparte, 1849, as suppressed in (1) above, is hereby
placedontheOfficialIndexofRejectedandInvalidGenericNamesinZoology.
HistoryofCase2691
An application for the conservation of Atheris Cope, 1862 was received from
Dr Donald G. Broadley {Natural History Museum, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) on 14
November 1988 and pubHshed in BZN 46: 264-266 (December 1989). Notice ofthe
casewassenttoappropriatejournals.Nocommentswerereceived.
DecisionoftheCommission
On 1 September 1990 the members ofthe Commission wereinvited to vote on the
proposalspublishedin BZN46: 265. Atthecloseofthevotingperiodon 1 December
1990thevoteswereas—follows:
Affirmative votes 26: Bayer, Bock, Cocks, Cogger, Corliss, Dupuis, Hahn,
Heppell, Holthuis, Kraus, Lehtinen, Macpherson, Mahnert, Martins de Souza,
Minelli, Mroczkowski, Nielsen, Nye, Ride, Savage, Schuster, Starobogatov,
Thompson,Trjapi—tzin,Ueno,Willink
Negativevotes 1: Kabata.
No vote was received from Halvorsen. Thompson pointed out that the erroneous
statements by Loveridge (1957; cf. BZN 46: 265, para. 6) resulted in Atheris and
Chloroechisbeingobjectiveratherthansubjectivesynonyms.
Originalreferences
ThefollowingaretheoriginalreferencestothenamesplacedonOfficialListsandanOfficial
IndexbytherulinggiveninthepresentOpinion:
AtherisCope, 1862,ProceedingsoftheAcademyofNaturalSciencesofPhiladelphia,14:337.
chlorechis, Vipera,Pel,[1851],NederlandschTijdschriftvoorJagtkunde,1: 172.
ChloroechisBonaparte, 1849,ProceedingsoftheZoologicalSocietyofLondon,p. 145.