Noun illegitimum

A noun illegitimum or illegitimate name (original in the code: illegitimate name ) is a technical term in botanical nomenclature for a special form of an incorrect scientific name for a taxon . The Latinized expression Nomen illegitimum , often abbreviated nom.illeg. , is not found in the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Mushrooms and Plants (hereinafter referred to as the code), which is the basis for naming , but it is often used in specialist botanical literature.

The term is not common in zoological nomenclature.

validity

A scientific name for a taxon of a particular rank, such as a species , genus, or family , in order to be recognized and used in science, must follow the rules and regulations set out in the Code. There are several ways in which a suggested scientific name is not used. First of all, the name must have been published in an initial description in a manner that satisfies certain formal rules . A name that meets these requirements is called "valid". A name for a taxon that does not meet these requirements is an invalid name. An example would be a noun nudum .

legitimacy

However, there are reasons why a name that is valid can still not be used because it violates other rules of the code than those that determine the validity. If he violates Articles 53 and 54, he is a homonym , that is a name that is identical to the name of another taxon described earlier. The violation of the rules of Article 52 is a "superfluous name" (Latin: nomen superfluum). This is the case if at the time of its first description there was already a valid and correct name for the newly described taxon, which is now to be described for the second time, only under a different name. Both cases combined are called illegitimate names.

A name that is both valid and legitimate will nevertheless not be used in many cases by botanical taxonomists and systematists because there are different taxonomic views about the group in question. For example, a botanist can describe a new species that another botanist believes is just a form or variant of another previously described species. Since the botanists have agreed, always use the first published name as the correct one To use names (priority principle), the older name would be used for this type. The younger name thus becomes a (taxonomic) synonym of this.

A younger homonym is always an illegitimate name. Whether or not a younger synonym is an illegitimate name is determined by whether or not it includes the type specimen of the type described above at the time when it was published. A synonym for a species name that includes the type of another species is simply a new name for the same thing. In this case it is an illegitimate name. If the type is not included, later investigations may show that what was previously considered to belong to one species were in fact two species. This happens, for example, when new features are discovered that can be used to differentiate. In this case, a name that was previously viewed as a synonym would become the valid name of the newly delimited species. An illegitimate name, on the other hand, can never become the correct name of a species through nomenclature acts of this kind. So if a name is found to be illegitimate, that name can no longer be used; unless it is preserved.

Conserved names

The rules described above can mean that names that have been used and introduced for a long time in botanical specialist literature, but also in applied works, have to be replaced if a researcher subsequently determines that the name is illegitimate. The resulting name changes make research more difficult and can lead to a source of avoidable errors and misunderstandings, while the goal of the nomenclature is actually stability. In order to avoid these consequences, a name can be declared a protected or conserved name (name to be protected, Latinized nomen conservandum , short nom. Cons. ) By a formal resolution in accordance with Article 14 of the Code . As a result, another name, namely the one that is actually correct according to the rules, is exceptionally rejected. According to this decision, a conserved name is the correct name of the corresponding taxon, even if it is actually an illegitimate name.

Introduction of the term

The expression legitimate or illegitimate name is not found in the oldest versions of the Code, it is missing in the Vienna Code of 1905 and in the various competing versions of the American Type Code. It was first introduced in the Cambridge Code of 1930 at the suggestion of the botanist Willem Frederik Reinier Suringar and has since been changed several times.

swell

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code) , adopted by the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress Melbourne, Australia, July 2011.
Michael G. Simpson: Plant Systematics. Academic Press (Elsevier), 2010. ISBN 978-0-08-092208-9 . In Chapter 16: Plant Nomenclature, pp. 611 ff.

Individual evidence

↑ The inclusion has been proposed: Wen-Bin Yu, Hong Wang, De-Zhu Li (2010): (104–108) Proposals to amend Article 9.15, add an example to Article 37, and make additions to Appendices III and IV. In: John McNeill & Nicholas J. Turland (editors): Proposals to amend the Code. Taxon 59 (2): 656-666. But it has not yet taken place.
↑ PG Parkinson (1984): The Concept of Nomenclatural Illegitimacy, including 32 Proposals to Amend the Code. Taxon 33 (3): 469-492.

[1] The inclusion has been proposed: Wen-Bin Yu, Hong Wang, De-Zhu Li (2010): (104–108) Proposals to amend Article 9.15, add an example to Article 37, and make additions to Appendices III and IV. In: John McNeill & Nicholas J. Turland (editors): Proposals to amend the Code. Taxon 59 (2): 656-666. But it has not yet taken place.

[2] PG Parkinson (1984): The Concept of Nomenclatural Illegitimacy, including 32 Proposals to Amend the Code. Taxon 33 (3): 469-492.