Opinion 1706 Ewymeloides Ashmead, 1889 (Insecta, Homoptera): Euiymela bicincta Erichson, 1842 Confirnied as the type species, and a neotype designated for E. Bicincta

2 Pages·1993·0.39 MB·English

by  International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

)
72 BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature50(1)March1993
OPINION 1706
Ewymeloides Ashmead, 1889(Insecta, Homoptera): Euiymela bicincta
Erichson, 1842confirnied as the type species, and a neotype designated
for E. bicincta
Ruling
(1 Under the plenary powers all previous fixations oftype specimens for the
nominal species Eurymela bicincta Erichson, 1842 are hereby set aside and the
specimen in the Bemice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. labelled
'Sydney, N.S.W. Austr. m 1-1095: Coll. Koebele; type of E. bicinctellus Kirk;
Euryineliasbicinctellus544(Kirk.);neotypeEurymelabicincta(Erichson)'ishereby
designatedastheneotype.
(2) It is hereby confirmed that the nominal species Eurymelabicincta Erichson,
1842isthetypespeciesofthenominalgenusEwymeloidesAshmead, 1889.
(3) The name Ewymeloides Ashmead, 1889 (gender: feminine), type species by
subsequent designation by Kirkaldy (1906) Eurymela bicincta Erichson, 1842, as
confirmed in (2) above, is hereby placed on the Official List ofGeneric Names in
Zoology.
(4) The name bicincta Erichson, 1842, as published in the binomen Eurymela
bicinctaandasdefinedbytheneotypedesignatedin(1)above(specificnameofthe
typespecieso(EwymeloidesAshmead, 1889),isherebyplacedontheOfficialListof
SpecificNamesinZoology.
HistoryofCase2755
An application for theconfirmation ofEurymela bicincta Erichson, 1842 as the
typespeciesofEwymeloidesAshmead, 1889,andthedesignationofaneotypeforE.
bicincta, was received from Drs M.M. Stevens (Yanco AgriculturalInstitute, New
South WalesAgricultureandFisheries. Yanco. Australia)andM.J. Fletcher(Biologi-
cal and Chemical Research Institute. New South Wales Agriculture andFisheries,
Rydalmere, Australia) on 23 January 1990. After correspondence the case was
published in BZN 48: 212-214 (September 1991). Notice ofthe case was sent to
appropriatejournals.
ItwasnotedonthevotingpaperthatDrStevenshadwritten(21 May 1991)that,
following Evans (1933), the generic name Eurymelias Kirkaldy, 1907 had been
treatedconsistentlyasajuniorsubjectivesynonymofEurymeloidesAshmead, 1889
(para.2oftheapplication);approvaloftheapplicationwouldallowthissynonymy
tobemaintained.
DecisionoftheCommission
On 1 September1992themembersoftheCommissionwereinvitedtovoteonthe
proposalspublishedinBZN48:213.Atthecloseofthevotingperiodon1December
1992thevoteswerea—sfollows:
Affirmative votes 25: Bayer, Bock, Cocks, Cogger, Corliss, Dupuis, Hahn,
Halvorsen, Holthuis, Kabata, Kraus, Macpherson, Mahnert, Martins de Souza,
Minelli,Nielsen,Nye,Ride,Savage,Schuster,Starobogatov,Stys,Trjapitzin,Ueno,
WiUink
BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature50(1)March1993 73
—
Negativevotes 3: Bouchet, LehtinenandThompson.
NovotewasreceivedfromHeppell.
Thompsoncommented:'Thejustificationfortheuseoftheplenarypowersinthis
case is to preserve the current interpretation (usage) of the name Ewymeloides.
Unfortunately, insufficient documentation of usage was given in this case, as
apparentlythisnamehasonlybeenusedbythreeauthorsinlessthan10papersinthe
previous50years.Whenusageargumentsaremadetheyshouldbedocumentedwith
atleastfivedifferentauthorsof10recentpublications. Priorityisaprincipleofnot
only nomenclature but ofscience as a whole. Deviation should be made only in
exceptionalcases.Thisisnotone,norinmyopinionisanyapplicationwhichdoes
notprovideadequatedocumentationofusage'. (Editorialnote.Thiswasnotsimply
a case ofpotential replacement ofa name by an older unused synonym; it also
involvedthethreatenedtransferoftherecognizednamesoftwotaxa{Ewymeloides
andE. bicincia)totwoothers(PkityeurymelaandP.semifascia).Thetypespeciesof
Eurymeloideswasmisidentifiedandthenamehasneverbeenusedinthesenseofthe
recently rediscovered Erichson specimens of 1842. The taxonomic literature on
Eurymeloidesislimited(10papersmentionedintheapplicationarepost-1930),but
theEURYMELIDAEarethedominantlealTioppersofAustralia(Evans, 1966),wherethe
EurymeloidesspeciesliveonEucalyptus).
Originalreferences
ThefollowingaretheoriginalreferencestothenamesplacedonOfficialListsbytheruling
giveninthepresentOpinion:
bicincia,Eurymela.Erichson, 1842,ArchivfiirNaturgeschichte.8(1):286.
EurymeloidesAshmead, 1899,EntomologicaAmericana.5(7): 126.
ThefollowingisthereferenceforthedesignationofEurymelabicinctaErichson,1842asthe
typespeciesofthenominalgenusEurymeloidesAshmead, 1889:
Kirkaldy,G.W.1906.BulletinoftheHawaiianSugarPlanters'AssociationExperimentStation
(EntomologicalSeries),1(9):354.