Alternative name (zoology)
In zoology, a name for a species or genus of animals that has been expressly suggested for another name is referred to as a replacement name (or new replacement name) . The English name is "new replacement name", and the Latin name nomen novum is also often used.
Often the older name cannot be used because another animal has already been referred to by the exact same name. For example, Lindholm noted in 1913 that the generic name Jelskia, introduced by Bourguignat in 1877 for a European freshwater snail, could not be used because another author, Taczanowski , had given the same name to a spider in 1871. So Lindholm suggested the name Borysthenia . This is an objective synonym of Jelskia Bourguignat, 1877, because it is of the same type, and is still used today.
Substitute names are also often necessary for species names. Alternative names were proposed well over 100 years ago. Bourguignat noted in 1859 that the name Bulimus cinereus Mortillet, 1851, could not be used for an Italian snail because Reeve had already introduced the exact same name for an entirely different Bolivian snail in 1848. Because it was already known back then that the older name always wins, Bourguignat explicitly introduced the replacement name Bulimus psarolenus and also wrote why. Today this snail is known under the name Solatopupa psarolena (Bourguignat, 1859).
It is little known that a substitute name has to obey certain rules.
Not every author who suggests a name for a species that already has a different name introduces a replacement name. An author who says “I name the insect species with the green dots x, that is the one that the other author referred to as y” does not introduce a replacement name, but a “completely normal” new name.
The International Rules for Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN Code) stipulate that when a substitute name is introduced, an "expressed statement" must be available, i.e. an explicit statement that addresses the process of replacing another name. Many zoologists do not know that this "expressed statement" is necessary, and therefore all possible names are often used as substitute names, including names that were mentioned without any description. For example, a small freshwater mussel mentioned by Férussac in 1807 without a description was called Cyclas lacustris , Férussac gave it a synonym ( Cyclas ovalis ) without comment . This name was later referred to in an important work on French molluscs as a replacement name for Tellina lacustris sensu Draparnaud (who had thus misidentified a different species than Tellina lacustris Müller, 1774). Since Férussac did not publish an "expressed statement" in 1807, this interpretation is not in the sense of the ICZN Code. In addition, the substitute name would not have replaced an available name because Tellina lacustris sensu Draparnaud was not an available name. Since the name had no description either, Férussac did not make it available as a normal name in 1807.
Anyone who suggests a replacement name must say exactly which previously introduced name to replace. It is not possible to replace three synonyms at once. As a rule, it is also written why the replacement name is necessary.
Sometimes we read “can't be called P. brasiliensis because the animal doesn't live in Brazil, hence the new name P. angolana ”. Even if this is not a reason according to the current rules, a substitute name has been introduced here because it was believed that the older one could not be used according to the rules, and because there is an "expressed statement" (the process of substitution was expressly discussed).
A substitute name can only be used for a taxon if the name it replaces cannot actually be used, as in the above example with the snail and the spider, or in the other example with the Italian and Bolivian snail. The animal from Angola, however, still has to be called brasiliensis according to the rules , because this is the older name.
Replacement names are not very common, but neither are they extremely rare. About 1% of the zoological species names used today may be substitute names. There are no exact statistics.
Individual evidence
- ↑ WA Lindholm: Miscell the Malacozoology of the Russian Empire. I-XIII. In: Ezhegodnik. Zoologicheskago Muzeja Imperatorskoi Akademii Nauk [Annuaire du Musée Zoologique de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St.-Pétersbourg]. 18 (1) 1913, p. 167. (151-167)
- ↑ Jules René Bourguignat: Descriptions de deux nouveaux genres algériens, suivies d'une Classification des familles et des genres de mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles du système européen . In: Bulletin de la Société des sciences physiques et naturelles de Toulouse . tape 3 , 1877, p. 49-102 ( animalbase.uni-goettingen.de [PDF] page 92).
- ↑ Władysław Taczanowski: Les Araneides de la Guyane française . In: Horae Societatis Entomologicae Rossicae, variis sermonibus in Rossia usitatis editae . tape 8 , 1871, p. 32-132 ( biodiversitylibrary.org - page 128).
- ↑ JR Bourguignat: Aménités malacologiques. In: Revue et Magasin de Zoologie pure et appliquée. (2) 11, Paris 1859, p. 52. (51-59, Pl. 15.) (online)
- ^ ICZN code. ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 4th edition. 2000, Art. 67.8, 72.7.
- ↑ JBL d'Audebard Férussac: Essai d'une méthode conchyliologique appliquée aux mollusques fluviatiles et terrestres d'après la considération de l'animal et de son test. Delance, Paris 1807, p. 128. (j-xvj [= 1-16], 1-142)
- ^ G. Falkner, TEJ Ripken, M. Falkner: Mollusques continentaux de France. List of references and bibliography. Paris 2002, ISBN 2-85653-539-9 , pp. [1-2], 1-350, [1-3].
- ^ ICZN code. ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 4th edition, 2000, Art. 12.1.
