[Taxacom] Costelytra zealandica - Epic fail!

[John Grehan]

Fortunately anyone with any sense can just stick with the established name.

John

On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 9:41 PM, Stephen Thorpe <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>
wrote:

> 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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>  >
>  > Injecting
>  Intellectual Liquidity for 29 years.
>  >
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>
>  Injecting Intellectual
>  Liquidity for 29 years.
>
>