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BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature50(2)June1993 OPINION 1725 Meladema Laporte, 1835 (Insecta, Coleoptera): conserved Ruling (1) UndertheplenarypowersthegenericnameScutopierusDejean, 1833ishereby suppressed for the purposes ofthe Principle ofPriority but not for those ofthe PrincipleofHomonymy. (2) The name Meladema Laporte, 1835 (gender: feminine), type species by monotypyMelademacoriaceaLaporte, 1835,isherebyplacedontheOfficialListof GenericNamesinZoology. (3) The name coriacea Laporte, 1835, as published in the binomen Meladema coriacea (specific name ofthe type species ofMeladema Laporte, 1835) is hereby placedontheOfficialListofSpecificNamesinZoology. (4) The name Scutopierus Dejean, 1833, as suppressed in (1) above, is hereby placedontheOfficialIndexofRejectedandInvalidGenericNamesinZoology. HistoryofCase2776 AnapplicationfortheconservationoiMelademaLaporte,1835wasreceivedfrom DrAnders N. Nilsson (UniversityofUmea. Umea, Sweden) on 1 June 1990. After correspondencethecasewaspublishedinBZN49:32-34(March1992).Noticeofthe casewassenttoappropriatejournals. ItwasnotedonthevotingpaperthattheapplicationhadthesupportofDrHans Silfverberg(UniversitetetsZoologiska Museum, Helsingfors, Finland). Itwasalsonotedthat, sinceSharp's(1882)work, Dytiscuslanio Fabricius, 1775 hadbeenincludedinMelademaLaporte,1835(paras.4and5oftheapplication)and undertheCode MelademawasajuniorsubjectivesynonymofScutopierusDejean, 1833.However.Nilsson,Roughley&Brancucci(1989,p.314)hadcommented:"The synonymyofMelademaLaporteandScutopierusDejeanfollowsfromourfixationof DytiscuslanioFabricius, 1775.asthetypespeciesofScutopierus.Thiscaseshouldbe referredtotheCommissionforaconservationofMelademaLaporte.Tomakethis possibleScutopierusDejeanshouldbesuppressedasanunusedseniorsynonym'. DecisionoftheCommission On 1 December1992themembersoftheCommissionwereinvitedtovoteonthe proposalspublishedinBZN49:33.Atthecloseofthevotingperiodon1March1993 thevoteswereasfol—lows: Affirmativevotes 26: Bayer, Bock, Cocks,Corliss, Hahn,Halvorsen,Heppell, Holthuis, Kabata, Kraus, Lehtinen, Macpherson, Mahnert, Martins de Souza, Minelli, Nielsen, Nye, Ride, Savage, Schuster, Starobogatov, Stys, Thompson, Trjapitzin.Ueno,—Willink Negativevotes 3: Bouchet,CoggerandDupuis. Dupuis commented that since Meladema and Scutopierus were subjective syn- onymshewould havepreferred MeladematobegivenprecedenceoverScutopierus ratherthansuppressingthelattername. 170 BulletinofZoologicalNomenclalure50(2)June1993 Originalreferences ThefollowingaretheoriginalreferencestothenamesplacedonOfficialListsandanOfficial IndexbytherulinggiveninthepresentOpinion: coriacea,Meladema,Laporte,1835,Eludesenlomologiques.oudescriptiond'insectesnouveaux; elobservationssurlasynonymie,part 1,p.98. Meladema Laporte, 1835, Etudes enlomologiques, ou description d'insectes nouveaux; el observationssurlasynonymie,part 1,p.98. ScutopterusDejean,1833,CataloguedescoteopteresdelacollectiondeM.leComteDejean,Ed. 2,part 1,p.54.