[Taxacom] Costelytra zealandica - Epic fail!

[Stephen Thorpe]

Just to ensure that we are all on the same page on this: what the authors have done is to dredge up the old (1846) type material for what is now known universally as Costelytra zealandica (perhaps the most published species name in all of N.Z. entomology!) and find that neither of the two syntypes (there could be others) that they examined actually are that species (i.e. the species  known universally as Costelytra zealandica). So they have designated one of those syntypes as lectotype (thereby making the name Costelytra zealandica definitely misidentified), and renamed the infamous pest species as a new species Costelytra giveni. There is no suggestion that they have even considered conservation of prevailing usage as an option! Big sigh! Just to rub salt in the wound, the ZooBank preregistration for the article just consists of an AUTHOR record filled in as if it were a taxon record!

So, overall, it is one small step for the authors, and one giant leap backwards for mankind!

Stephen

--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 15/10/16, John Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Costelytra zealandica - Epic fail!
 To: "Doug Yanega" <dyanega at ucr.edu>
 Cc: "taxacom" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
 Received: Saturday, 15 October, 2016, 2:17 PM
 
 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00779962.2016.1230254
 
 
 Establishment
 of the identity of Costelytra zealandica(White 1846)
 (Coleoptera: Scarabeidae: Melolonthinae) a
 species commonly known as the
 New Zealand
 grass grub
 M. M. Coca-Abia <http://www.tandfonline.com/author/Coca-Abia%2C+M+M>
 & J.
 Romero-Samper <http://www.tandfonline.com/author/Romero-Samper%2C+J>
 
 White (1846) described
 *Rhisotrogus* *zealandicus* from two syntypes,
 however no lectotype has since been designated.
 When the genus
 *Costelytra* Given
 1952 was described, with *Rhisotrogus
 zealandicus* White 1846 as its type
 species,
 Given’s description of this species was based on 400
 specimens
 collected at different localities
 in New Zealand as White’s syntypes were
 not available to him. Later, Given (1960)
 examined one of the syntypes,
 stating that
 it was identical to specimens he used to describe
 *C. zealandica*, but a lectoype was not
 designated at this time. So, the
 aims of
 this paper are: (i) to provide a detailed description of
 the
 external morphology, mouthparts and male
 genitalia based on the syntypes of
 *R.
 zealandicus*; (ii) to compare these type specimens with the
 description
 by Given (1952); (iii) to
 compare the syntypes to establish if they are
 conspecific; (iv) to designate an appropriate
 lectotype and (v) to study a
 representative
 series of *C. zealandica* collected from throughout New
 Zealand to establish the status of the taxon
 currently known as
 *C. zealandica*.
 Differences between the syntype specimens, and Given’s
 (1952) description of the New Zealand specimens
 were found. In addition,
 White’s syntypes
 are not conspecific. As a result *Costelytra giveni* n.
 sp. is established and described to represent
 the species currently known
 as the ‘New
 Zealand grass grub’.
 
 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:author:E0AD9CE6-8EA8-4ADD-8E1A-10A824AF161C
 
 On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 8:07
 PM, Doug Yanega <dyanega at ucr.edu>
 wrote:
 
 > On 10/14/16
 4:33 PM, Stephen Thorpe wrote:
 >
 >> doi: 10.1080/00779962.2016.1230254
 >>
 > This turns up
 nothing via Google, nor does the title. Can you provide a
 > link?
 >
 > Peace,
 >
 > --
 > Doug Yanega   
   Dept. of Entomology       Entomology
 Research Museum
 > Univ. of California,
 Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
 > phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer:
 opinions are mine, not UCR's)
 >   
           http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
 >   "There are some
 enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
 >         is the true
 method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
 >
 >
 >
 _______________________________________________
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 > The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be
 searched at:
 > http://taxacom.markmail.org
 >
 > Injecting
 Intellectual Liquidity for 29 years.
 >
 _______________________________________________
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 searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org
 
 Injecting Intellectual
 Liquidity for 29 years.