[Taxacom] Some whimsical questions

[Socorro Gonzalez]

Gaultheria erecta Ventenat (Ericaceae) has 51 synonyms listed in Flora Neotropica.
_________________________________ M. Socorro Gonzalez ElizondoHerbario CIIDIRInstituto Politecnico NacionalSigma 119 Fracc. 20 de Noviembre IIDurango, Dgo., 34220 MEXICOTels. (618) 814 4540, (618) 814 6802; (55) 5 729 6000 ext. 82609 

   El jueves, 28 de febrero de 2019 5:15:14 p. m. CST, Doug Yanega <dyanega at ucr.edu> escribió: 
 
 On 2/28/19 2:14 PM, Robert Zuparko wrote:

2) Which species has the most junior synonyms?



There is a complicating factor here, in that some taxonomists don't consider subspecies to be valid taxa, in which case it could easily be a carabid beetle (e.g., a Carabus or Cicindela s.l.) or butterfly that has more synonyms, though disputedly so. Apis mellifera has 29 valid subspecies and another 72 synonyms, homonyms, and misspellings in addition to those 29 valid names (but no more than 13 for any individual subspecies), but I don't think that's fair for your question. If you avoid things that have this level of contentiousness, and eliminate unavailable names from consideration, then the two I know are good contenders are the cerambycid Prionus californicus, which has 29 available and undisputed junior synonyms, and the scarab Cotinis mutabilis, which has 28. Again, the key here is "available and undisputed".

There may be taxa with 30 or more, but not familiar to me, at least.

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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