[Taxacom] Homonymous synonyms / cosmic order

[David Campbell]

Two more examples of the complications that arise:
Leptolimneus Sandberger, 1875.  Looks suspiciously like a misspelling
of Leptolimnaea Swainson, 1840, but the different spelling and the
failure to mention Swainson lead me to list it as a possible new genus
name, while noting that it is probably a mere misspelling.  Sandberger
cited a subjective synonym of the type of Swainson's genus, rather
than Swainson's type.

Isaac Lea regularly printed brief descriptions of taxa to establish
his priority and then later followed with much more detailed
publications.  Often, these longer descriptions were then assembled
into monographs and reprinted.  Given the amount of detail (and the
fact that the brief descriptions are generally Latin, while the longer
ones have English), authors have tended to rely on the later versions.
 However, sometimes important changes took place between the initial
brief description and the later.  As these are generally freshwater
mollusks, which river system you are in makes a lot of difference, but
occasionally the original cited locality is not mentioned in the later
publications.  I have assumed that the later usage would then be a
subsequent misidentification of the previously established species.


-- 
Dr. David Campbell
Collections Assistant
The Paleontological Research Institution
1259 Trumansburg Road
Ithaca NY 14850