[Taxacom] ICZN procedure question

[Francisco Welter-Schultes]

Stan,
you might fear that someone could read the name in the 
internet resource and suddenly use it in a paper-based 
publication, undeliberately causing problems there.

This had been a problem in the past centuries, but in the current 
edition of the ICZN Code there is a provision not only that a new 
name must be published on paper, but also that a previosuly 
unpublished name will only be accepted as new and available if there 
is an explicit statement in the paper-based publication that this 
name shall be new (besides that types must be cited) (Art. 16.1, 
16.4). So a mere use of such a name in a paper-based publication 
alone, even if combined with a short and differentiating 
description, would not make the name available. 

(Nonetheless there are still editors of journals and reviewers who 
seem not to know this and would not allow authors to cite unpublished 
names).

Francisco
University of Goettingen, Germany
www.animalbase.org