Opinion 1656 Longitarsus symphyti Heikertinger, 1912 (Insecta, Coleoptera): specific name conserved

2 Pages·1991·0.46 MB·English

by  International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

1
270 BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature48(3)September199
OPINION 1656
LongitarsussymphytiHeikertinger, 1912(Insecta, Coleoptera): specific
nameconserved
Ruling
(1) Under the plenary powers the name luctator Weise, 1893, as published in the
combination Longitarsus aeruginosus var. luctator, is hereby suppressed for the
purposesofthePrincipleofPrioritybutnotforthoseofthePrincipleofHomonymy.
(2) ThenamesymphytiHeikertinger, 1912,aspublishedinthebinomenLongitarsus
symphyti,isherebyplacedontheOfficialListofSpecificNamesinZoology.
(3) The name luctator Weise, 1893, as published in the combination Longitarsus
aeruginosusvar.luctatorandassuppressedin(1)above,isherebyplacedontheOfficial
IndexofRejectedandInvalidSpecificNamesinZoology.
HistoryofCase2687
An application for the conservation ofthe specific name ofLongitarsus symphyti
Heikertinger, 1912 was received from Dr L. Borowiec {Agricultural University,
Wroclaw, Poland)on 3October 1988. Aftercorrespondencethecasewaspublishedin
BZN 47: 117 (June 1990). Notice ofthe case was sent to appropriatejournals. No
comments were received. The voting paper noted that the Commission Secretariat
held a list of representative works dating from 1932 to 1978 which used the name
L.symphyti.
DecisionoftheCommission
On 6 March 1991 the members of the Commission were invited to vote on the
proposalspublishedin BZN47: 117. Atthecloseofthevotingperiodon6June 1991
thevoteswereasfollo—ws:
Affirmative votes 25: Bayer, Bock, Cocks, Cogger, Corliss, Dupuis, Hahn,
Halvorsen,Heppell,Holthuis, Kabata, Kraus,Lehtinen, Mahnert,MartinsdeSouza,
Minelli, Mroczkowski, Nielsen, Nye, Ride, Savage, Schuster, Starobogatov, Ueno,
Willink —
Negativevotes 2:MacphersonandThompson.
NovotewasreceivedfromTrjapitzin.
Heppell commented: 'I vote for the application, but I am concerned that it was
necessarytobringthiscasetotheCommissionforavote. I havenotseentheoriginal
work by Weise in which the 'var. luctator' is described, and the applicant does not
indicatethenatureofitsoriginaldescription. Thenamehasneverbeenadopted fora
species or subspecies, so its status as an available name depends on whether or not
infrasubspecific rankcan beinferred from Weise's text. Whatconcernsmeisthat, as
Article45goftheCodeispresentlyworded,varietalnamespublishedbefore 1961 are
treatedassubspecificunlesstheywereclearlyinfrasubspecific.Ibelievestabilitywould
be better served by shifting the burden ofproof to those authors who wish to use
currently unused varietal namesat subspecificorspecificlevel. Thenominal 'variety'
couldthenbeinterpretedasofsubspecificrankonlyifthenamewaspublishedbefore
1961 and treated prior to 1985 as an available name, unless it clearly applied to a
distinctpopulationandnotmerelytoabnormalindividuals.Inthatwaythethousands
BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature48(3)September1991 271
ofsuch namesin the Hterature would poseno threat to stability and the Commission
need beinvolvedonly iftherewereanobjection tosucha treatment. I would happily
support theexclusion ofall varietal namesnotadopted before 1985. Thissortofcase
must bedealt with automatically by the Code, so ifArticle45g(ii) is unsatisfactory it
requirestoberevised.Ifwehavetosuppressseniorvarietalnamesonebyoneourwork
willneverbethrough'.
Thompsoncommented: 'Thisapplicationdoesnotconformtotherequirementsof
Article79coftheCodeasthereisinsufficientdocumentationofusage'.
Originalreferences
ThefollowingaretheoriginalreferencestothenamesplacedonanOfficialListandanOfficial
IndexbytherulinggiveninthepresentOpinion:
luctator, Longitarsus aeruginosus, Weise, 1893, Naturgeschkhte der Insekten Deutschlands,
vol.6,part l,p. 1010.
symphyti,Longitarsus,Heikertinger, 1912,EntomologischeBlatter,8(3):69.