Name-bearing type
Encyclopedia
Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
(Code), the name-bearing type is the biological type
that determines the application of a name. Each taxon
regulated by the Code at least potentially has a name-bearing type. The name-bearing type can be either a type genus
(family
group), type species
(genus group), or type specimen (species
group). For example, the name Mabuya maculata (Gray, 1839) has often been used for the Noronha skink
(currently Trachylepis atlantica), but because the name-bearing type of the former, a lizard preserved in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
in Paris, does not represent the same species as the Noronha skink, the name maculata cannot be used for the latter.
), but is currently regarded as representing the same species as Didelphis brevicaudata and Didelphys brachyuros.
and tribe. The name of the family-group taxon is based on the stem of the type genus
, its name-bearing type; for example, the Central American rodent tribe Nyctomyini
has Nyctomys as its type genus and its name consists of the stem of the type genus, Nyctomy-, and the appropriate ending for a tribe, -ini.
and subgenus
. The name-bearing type in the genus group is the type species
, which must be one of the species included when the genus-group taxon ("genus" hereafter for brevity) was first formally named or, when no species were included when the genus was named, one of the first species that were subsequently included in it. A genus described after 1930 (1999 for ichnotaxa
) must have its type species fixed when first named; in taxa described earlier without such an explicit designation, the type species can be fixed subsequently. For example, the skink
genus Euprepis contained nine species when first described by Wagler in 1830, but no type species was designated. In 2002, Mausfeld and others used the name for a mainly African group of skinks, designating Lacerta punctata Linnaeus, 1758, as the type species (currently Lygosoma punctatum), but in 2003, Bauer noted that Loveridge had already fixed the type species of Euprepis in 1957 as Scincus agilis (currently Mabuya agilis), invalidating the later fixation by Mausfeld and others. Accordingly, Euprepis is now a subjective synonym of Mabuya
and the mostly African group Mausfeld and others incorrectly called Euprepis is known as Trachylepis
.
includes species
and subspecies
. A name-bearing type of a species-group taxon (hereafter "species" for brevity) is an actual specimen or set of specimens; the Code recommends that great care should be exercised to ensure the preservation of such specimens. It can either be designated in the publication establishing the name or designated later. In the former case, there is either a single name-bearing type, a holotype
, or a set of syntype
s. In species named before 2000 without explicit designation of a holotype, all specimens in the type series are considered as syntypes. Name-bearing types designated after the original publication include lectotype
s and neotypes. If a taxon has syntypes, one of those can be selected as the lectotype, upon which act the others lose the status of syntype. A neotype may be designated to replace the previous name-bearing type when the original type is lost or by application to the Commission
when the previous name-bearing type cannot be identified. For example, Shaw's name Viverra touan was based on a description of "Le Touan" by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
, which left the identity of the name uncertain, and in 2001 Voss and others selected as the neotype a specimen in the Field Museum of Natural History
, which thereby becomes the name-bearing type.
The name-bearing type is usually an individual animal in a museum collection; for example, the name-bearing type (in this case, lectotype) of the skink species currently known as Trachylepis maculata
(Gray, 1839) is a lizard preserved in the collections of the French Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Other kinds of name-bearing types are also allowed by the Code, including colonies of asexually reproducing animals, natural casts of fossils, a series of stages of the life cycle of a living protistan (a hapantotype), and some others. If an illustration or description is used as the basis of a species, the specimen or group of specimens illustrated or described is the name-bearing type (not the illustration or description itself), even if no longer in existence.
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals...
(Code), the name-bearing type is the biological type
Biological type
In biology, a type is one particular specimen of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached...
that determines the application of a name. Each taxon
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
regulated by the Code at least potentially has a name-bearing type. The name-bearing type can be either a type genus
Type genus
In biological classification, a type genus is a representative genus, as with regard to a biological family. The term and concept is used much more often and much more formally in zoology than it is in botany, and the definition is dependent on the nomenclatural Code that applies:* In zoological...
(family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
group), type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
(genus group), or type specimen (species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
group). For example, the name Mabuya maculata (Gray, 1839) has often been used for the Noronha skink
Noronha skink
The Noronha skink is a species of skink from the island of Fernando de Noronha off northeastern Brazil. It is covered with dark and light spots on the upperparts and is usually about 7 to 10 cm in length. The tail is long and muscular, but breaks off easily...
(currently Trachylepis atlantica), but because the name-bearing type of the former, a lizard preserved in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
The Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle is the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.- History :The museum was formally founded on 10 June 1793, during the French Revolution...
in Paris, does not represent the same species as the Noronha skink, the name maculata cannot be used for the latter.
Effect on synonymy
Under the ICZN, two names of the same rank that have the same name-bearing type are objective synonyms, as are two whose name-bearing types are themselves objectively synonymous names; for example, the names Didelphis brevicaudata Erxleben, 1777, and Didelphys brachyuros Schreber, 1778, were both based on a specimen (now in the British Museum of Natural History) described by Seba in 1734 and are therefore objective synonyms (the species they refer to, a small South American opossum, is currently known as Monodelphis brevicaudata). In contrast, a subjective synonym is based on a different name-bearing type, but is regarded as representing the same taxon; for example, the name Viverra touan Shaw, 1800, is based on a different name-bearing type (a specimen in the Field Museum of Natural HistoryField Museum of Natural History
The Field Museum of Natural History is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago...
), but is currently regarded as representing the same species as Didelphis brevicaudata and Didelphys brachyuros.
Family group
The family group includes the superfamily and all other ranks below it and above the genus, including the familyFamily (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
and tribe. The name of the family-group taxon is based on the stem of the type genus
Type genus
In biological classification, a type genus is a representative genus, as with regard to a biological family. The term and concept is used much more often and much more formally in zoology than it is in botany, and the definition is dependent on the nomenclatural Code that applies:* In zoological...
, its name-bearing type; for example, the Central American rodent tribe Nyctomyini
Nyctomyini
Nyctomyini is a tribe of New World rats and mice in the subfamily Tylomyinae which includes two genera, Nyctomys and Otonyctomys, each with a single species...
has Nyctomys as its type genus and its name consists of the stem of the type genus, Nyctomy-, and the appropriate ending for a tribe, -ini.
Genus group
The genus group consists of the genusGenus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
and subgenus
Subgenus
In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...
. The name-bearing type in the genus group is the type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
, which must be one of the species included when the genus-group taxon ("genus" hereafter for brevity) was first formally named or, when no species were included when the genus was named, one of the first species that were subsequently included in it. A genus described after 1930 (1999 for ichnotaxa
Ichnotaxon
An ichnotaxon is defined by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature as "a taxon based on the fossilized work of an organism", that is, the non-human equivalent of an artifact. Ichnotaxa are names used to identify and distinguish morphologically distinctive ichnofossils, more commonly...
) must have its type species fixed when first named; in taxa described earlier without such an explicit designation, the type species can be fixed subsequently. For example, the skink
Skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...
genus Euprepis contained nine species when first described by Wagler in 1830, but no type species was designated. In 2002, Mausfeld and others used the name for a mainly African group of skinks, designating Lacerta punctata Linnaeus, 1758, as the type species (currently Lygosoma punctatum), but in 2003, Bauer noted that Loveridge had already fixed the type species of Euprepis in 1957 as Scincus agilis (currently Mabuya agilis), invalidating the later fixation by Mausfeld and others. Accordingly, Euprepis is now a subjective synonym of Mabuya
Mabuya
Mabuya is a genus of long-tailed skinks nowadays restricted to species from the Americas. The American mabuyas are primarily carnivorous, though many are omnivorous. Formerly, many Old World species were placed here, as Mabuya was a kind of "wastebasket taxon"...
and the mostly African group Mausfeld and others incorrectly called Euprepis is known as Trachylepis
Trachylepis
Trachylepis is a skink genus in the subfamily Lygosominae found mainly in Africa. Its members were formerly included in the "wastebin taxon" Mabuya, and for some time in Euprepis. As defined today, Trachylepis contains the clade of Afro-Malagasy mabuyas. The genus also contains a species from the...
.
Species group
The species groupSpecies group
A species group is an informal taxonomic rank into which an assemblage of closely related species within a genus are grouped because of their morphological similarities and their identity as a biological unit with a single monophyletic origin.-Use:...
includes species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
and subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
. A name-bearing type of a species-group taxon (hereafter "species" for brevity) is an actual specimen or set of specimens; the Code recommends that great care should be exercised to ensure the preservation of such specimens. It can either be designated in the publication establishing the name or designated later. In the former case, there is either a single name-bearing type, a holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
, or a set of syntype
Syntype
In biological nomenclature, a syntype is a term used to indicate a specimen with a special status.In zoological nomenclature, a syntype is defined as "Each specimen of a type series from which neither a holotype nor a lectotype has been designated [Arts. 72.1.2, 73.2, 74]. The syntypes...
s. In species named before 2000 without explicit designation of a holotype, all specimens in the type series are considered as syntypes. Name-bearing types designated after the original publication include lectotype
Lectotype
In botanical nomenclature and zoological nomenclature, a lectotype is a kind of name-bearing type. When a species was originally described on the basis of a name-bearing type consisting of multiple specimens, one of those may be designated as the lectotype...
s and neotypes. If a taxon has syntypes, one of those can be selected as the lectotype, upon which act the others lose the status of syntype. A neotype may be designated to replace the previous name-bearing type when the original type is lost or by application to the Commission
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 28 members from 20 countries, mainly practicing zoological taxonomists...
when the previous name-bearing type cannot be identified. For example, Shaw's name Viverra touan was based on a description of "Le Touan" by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopedic author.His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier...
, which left the identity of the name uncertain, and in 2001 Voss and others selected as the neotype a specimen in the Field Museum of Natural History
Field Museum of Natural History
The Field Museum of Natural History is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago...
, which thereby becomes the name-bearing type.
The name-bearing type is usually an individual animal in a museum collection; for example, the name-bearing type (in this case, lectotype) of the skink species currently known as Trachylepis maculata
Trachylepis maculata
Trachylepis maculata is a species of skink in the genus Trachylepis recorded from Demerara in Guyana, northern South America. It is placed in the genus Trachylepis, which is otherwise mostly restricted to Africa, and its type locality may be in error. It is an unstriped, olive-brown, grayish...
(Gray, 1839) is a lizard preserved in the collections of the French Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Other kinds of name-bearing types are also allowed by the Code, including colonies of asexually reproducing animals, natural casts of fossils, a series of stages of the life cycle of a living protistan (a hapantotype), and some others. If an illustration or description is used as the basis of a species, the specimen or group of specimens illustrated or described is the name-bearing type (not the illustration or description itself), even if no longer in existence.
Literature cited
- Bauer, A.M. 2003. On the identity of Lacerta punctata Linnaeus 1758, the type species of the genus Euprepis Wagler 1830, and the generic assignment of Afro-Malagasy skinks. African Journal of Herpetology 52:1–7.
- Groves, C.P. 2005. Order Primates. Pp. 111–184 in Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0
- Holthuis, L.B. 1996. Original watercolours donated by Cornelius Sittardus to Conrad Gesner, and published by Gesner in his (1558–1670) works on aquatic animals. Zoologische Mededelingen 70:169–196.
- International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. 4th edition. London: The International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. ISBN 0-85301-006-4
- Mausfeld, P. and Vrcibradic, D. 2002. On the nomenclature of the skink (Mabuya) endemic to the western Atlantic archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, Brazil (subscription only). Journal of Herpetology 36(2):292–295.
- Miralles, A., Chaparro, J.C. and Harvey, M.B. 2009. Three rare and enigmatic South American skinks (first page only). Zootaxa 2012:47–68.
- Musser, G.G. and Carleton, M.D. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894–1531 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0
- Voss, R.S., Lunde, D.P. and Simmons, N.B. 2001. The mammals of Paracou, French Guiana: a Neotropical lowland rainforest fauna. Part 2. Nonvolant species. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 263:1–236.