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[Taxacom] Questions about availability of a species name

Stephen Thorpe stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz
Thu Aug 23 17:46:46 CDT 2018 

The "Oparara fiasco" was more serious. The main issue was the homonymy of Oparara, with the lack of stated type depositories secondary. The problem though was that because the new generic name Oparara was based on a type species which technically was unavailable due to lack of stated type depository, the name Oparara was also technically unavailable (and so not technically a homonym of the earlier available name!) Had the only problem been the lack of stated type depositories, then the issue probably wouldn't have been worth bothering about.
Stephen

--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 24/8/18, Michael A. Ivie <mivie at montana.edu> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Questions about availability of a species name
 To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 Received: Friday, 24 August, 2018, 10:10 AM
 
 Dear Jose,
 
 Just draft something that will fix the problem,
 you can use the recent 
 Leschen paper in
 Coleopterists Bulletin where he fixed exactly this 
 error in Code compliance for one of his
 papers.  Then send the draft to 
 the
 original authors, and ask them to validate the name.  You
 come off 
 as a good guy,they get
 "ownership" of their work, and the names are 
 available.  Everyone wins.
 
 Mike
 
 Three New
 Genera of New Zealand Synchitini (Coleoptera:
 Zopheridae: Colydiinae): Erratum
 Author(s): Richard A. B. Leschen and Nathan P.
 Lord
 The Coleopterists Bulletin,
 72(2):386-387.
 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1649/0010-065X-72.2.386
 
 
 On 8/23/2018
 8:24 AM, Fernandez, Jose wrote:
 > Hi
 again,
 >
 > First of
 all, I want to say THANKS A LOT to all of you that have so
 far replied to my questions. I really appreciate that and
 the time you have spent doing it.
 >
 > Based on the discussion so far, the
 consensus is that the species name is still unavailable
 -although I see different interpretations of the pertinent
 articles that have been cited so far; if anything, it seems
 as there is ambiguity in the Code there (not a criticism of
 the ICZN per se, just an observation after reading the
 articles AND the opinions of those who replied to my
 questions).
 >
 > So now
 I only have a single question to ask: Is there a way that
 that name could ever be made available? Could you confirm
 that a) there is NO way to make that Microplitis
 vitellipedis name available by just clearly stating the
 depository in a subsequent paper; and b) indeed the ONLY way
 to make that species name available would be publishing a
 subsequent paper that includes all ICZN requirements to make
 such name available (a process  that implies a new author
 and year of publication for that species name)?
 >
 > The only reason I
 have asked all those questions is because I am about to
 finish a world checklist of the Braconidae subfamily
 Microgastrinae (~2,800 valid names, a couple hundred names
 in other categories). If the name Microplitis vitellipedis
 could only be made available by the option b) cited above,
 then I would simply list that name in a section I already
 have for unavailable names. I have no intention to make
 species names from other authors available, unless it could
 be done via the option a) mentioned above. Thanks again for
 any advice you can provide about that.
 >
 > [And, please, allow
 me a stupid comment to end my message. I realize the
 importance of regulations and so on. But I still see a
 species that was a) described, compared to putative close
 species, and illustrated (drawings) in 2009, b)
 re-described, placed within a key to all Oriental species of
 Microplitis, and illustrated (color pictures) in 2015, c) a
 technicality (the authors of the original description
 probably forgot to add the depository, or just assumed that
 it was implicit that it was their institution, or just were
 not aware of the new Code regulations, or whatever) now
 prevents that species name to be available. Yes, there is no
 justification for the authors not stating clearly the
 depository in the original description, and I am no here to
 defend or represent the authors in any way or shape. But, if
 the depository indeed could be confirmed to be the Hunan
 Agricultural University, China, and a subsequent note could
 be published clearly stating that (preferably, done by the
 original authors), would not that be a better solution than
 any person using the available descriptions, stating a
 depository and getting credited for the species name? Where
 regulations and common sense meet? Or am I just too stupid
 to fully understand the logic behind those Articles? If so,
 I apologize in advance!].
 >
 > Cheers,
 > Jose
 >
 > --
 > José L. Fernández-Triana, Ph.D.
 > Research Scientist, Agriculture and
 Agri-Food Canada
 > Canadian National
 Collection of Insects (CNC)
 > 960 Carling
 Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6, CANADA
 > Phone: 613-759-1034. Email: jose.fernandez at agr.gc.ca
 > Alternative email : cnc.braconidae at gmail.com
 >
 >    
 >   
 >
 >
 > -----Original
 Message-----
 > From: Taxacom [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu]
 On Behalf Of Fernandez, Jose
 > Sent:
 August-22-18 5:24 PM
 > To: parahym (parahym at nhm.ac.uk);
 taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 > Subject: [Taxacom] Questions about
 availability of a species name
 >
 > Hi all,
 >
 > I would greatly appreciate some
 help/comments on the following topic. I have added a
 "Right?" to the  end of my paragraphs to mark my
 questions (and NOT because I think that I am necessarily
 right!). Hopefully you can clarify me the situation.
 >
 > Microplitis
 vitellipedis Li, Tan & Song was described in 2009 from
 China The original paper did not state the holotype
 depository. Thus, the species name is unavailable under the
 current ICZN. Right?
 >
 > Then in 2015 a taxonomic review of the
 Oriental species of Microplitis refers to that species. It
 states that the holotype is deposited in the Hunan
 Agricultural University, China. That happens to be the
 institution which the authors of the original description
 were affiliated with (at least at the time of the 2009
 publication). The 2015 paper, from Indian researchers,
 states that "the type specimen of this species could
 not be examined" and that they based their species
 description, illustration and place in the key to Oriental
 Microplitis species on specimens from India that they
 actually examined. I am not sure if the 2015 authors
 contacted the Chinese colleagues to verify that the type was
 indeed deposited in the Hunan Agricultural University,
 China. But that may be beyond the point, because what
 matters is that, if the type depository was explicitly (and
 clearly) stated in the 2015 paper, then that would comply
 with the ICZN requirements and thus would make the name
 Microplitis vitellipedis Li, Tan & Song available.
 Right?
 >
 > Assuming
 that the two previous paragraphs are correct, then my last
 question is, how to refer to that species? I mean the
 species name and authors would remain the same, but the
 actual date assigned to that name should be 2015 (the moment
 when the species name fulfilled all criteria to be
 considered an available name, sensu ICZN) and not 2009.
 Right? Should it be then Microplitis vitellipedis Li, Tan
 & Song 2015? Is there something there that I may be
 missing? Or some assumptions that are wrong? Or better ways
 to interpret the situation?
 >
 > [If someone is interested in checking the
 cited references, I will be happy to send pdf copies off
 list (just send me an email for that). In any case the two
 references are: a) Original Description Reference: Li,
 Xi-ying; Tan, Ji-cai and Song, Dong-bao. 2009. A new species
 of Microplitis Foerster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae:
 Microgastrinae) of China. Entomotaxonomia. 31(3):225-229; b)
 subsequent and so far only reference known to me: Ranjith,
 A.P.; Rajesh, K.M. and Nasser, M.. 2015. Taxonomic studies
 on Oriental Microplitis Foerster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae,
 Microgastrinae) with description of two new species from
 South India. Zootaxa. 3963(3):369-415].
 >
 > Thanks a lot for any
 help you can provide!
 > All the best,
 > Jose
 >
 > --
 > José L.
 Fernández-Triana, Ph.D.
 > Research
 Scientist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
 > Canadian National Collection of Insects
 (CNC)
 > 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa,
 Ontario, K1A 0C6, CANADA
 > Phone:
 613-759-1034. Email: jose.fernandez at agr.gc.ca<mailto:jose.fernandez at agr.gc.ca>
 > Alternative email : cnc.braconidae at gmail.com<mailto:cnc.braconidae at gmail.com>
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
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 > Nurturing Nuance
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 >
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 > Nurturing Nuance
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 -- 
 __________________________________________________
 
 Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D.,
 F.R.E.S.
 
 NOTE: two
 addresses with different Zip Codes depending on carriers
 
 US Post Office Address:
 Montana Entomology Collection
 Marsh Labs, Room 50
 PO Box
 173145
 Montana State University
 Bozeman, MT 59717
 USA
 
 UPS, FedEx, DHL Address:
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 Marsh Labs, Room 50
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 mivie at montana.edu
 
 
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 Assaulting Ambiguity for 31 Some Years, 1987-2018.

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