[Taxacom] Some whimsical questions

Thu Feb 28 18:30:14 CST 2019

The sarcophagid fly Sarcophaga variegata (Scopoli, 1763) has 131 synonyms, and 125 of them all by one person: Robineau-Desvoidy!

-Neal

Neal L. Evenhuis, PhD.
Senior Entomologist

Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum
1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, HI 96817-2704
Office: (808) 848-4138
Fax: (808) 847-8252
BishopMuseum.org<www.bishopmuseum.org>

From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>> on behalf of "Yanega, Doug" <dyanega at ucr.edu<mailto:dyanega at ucr.edu>>
Date: Thursday, February 28, 2019 at 1:14 PM
To: taxacom <TAXACOM at MAILMAN.NHM.KU.EDU<mailto:TAXACOM at MAILMAN.NHM.KU.EDU>>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Some whimsical questions

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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