Taxacom: Typographic errors mistaken by new names

[Michael A. Ivie]

One bizarre case is Ablabus BROUN, 1880 and Notoulus BROUN, 1886 
(Coleoptera: Colydiidae, now Zopheridae), which was a misspelled or 
unexplained replacement name, and both were used and attributed to the 
same author.  They are in fact, as of 1990 (Ivie and Slipinksi 1990), 
objective synonyms.  But, they have both been treated as valid and 
separate, even in the same publication (e.g. Hetscho 1930).

Ablabus BROUN, 1880: 183. TS: A. ornatus BROUN, 1880: 184, by present 
designation. BMNH.

* Notoulus BROUN, 1886: 947. HETSCHKO 1930: 37 cites this genus from BROUN
1880: 183, following the citation of this page by BROUN 1886: 947. However,
there is no mention of Notoulus on that page, which has the description 
of Ablabus
on it. It seems that Notoulus was intended as a replacement name for 
Ablabus,
or was a lapsus calami. The name Notoulus first appears above the 
descriptions
of N. sparsus BROUN, 1886: 947, and N. libentus BROUN 1886: 947, and also
includes Ablabus ornatus BROUN, 1880: 184 (in diagnosis of N. sparsus).
BROUN used the name Ablabus only up to pg. 894 of BROUN 1886, and after pg.
947, never used the name again, substituting Notoulus thereafter. 
Further, the
species described as Notoulus have the generic characters of Ablabus. 
Thus the
names should always have been considered synonyms. Though there is no 
generic
description, the name is available by indication (IZCN art. 12.b.5). We here
designate Ablabus ornatus BROUN as type species of Notoulus, making 
these two
objective synonyms.


On 2/17/2022 6:28 PM, Douglas Yanega via Taxacom wrote:
> On 2/17/22 5:12 PM, Geoff Read via Taxacom wrote:
>> Yes, it would be
>> interesting to know of other cases where the wrongly spelled names 
>> took on
>> a new life.
>
> In a certain sense, this happens all the time; any of the three types 
> of spelling change (justified emendation, unjustified emendation, or 
> incorrect subsequent spelling) can become available and valid. 
> However, this is limited in that they must be attributed to the 
> original author, not the person who changed the spelling. They 
> generally only get credited as authors if the original name proves to 
> be unavailable.
>
> It is hard to think of cases where the original name is available, 
> *and* the misspelled name is also available *and* attributed to the 
> author who misspelled it.
>
> I will note that there are cases where someone misspelled a name, and 
> someone else mistakenly thought it was actually spelled that way - and 
> therefore involved that misspelled name in a case of mistaken homonymy 
> with a different available name - and replaced a name that was NOT 
> actually a homonym (e.g., Dolabella Lamarck was misspelled by Gistl as 
> "Dollabella", and when Cummings published a perfectly good name 
> Dollabella in 1916, someone else erroneously replaced it, even though 
> it was not a homonym).
>
> Peace,
>
-- 
__________________________________________________

Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.

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