ISSN:
1550-7408
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
SYNOPSIS. All zoologists are affected by provisions in the very recently published International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, the first revised edition of these important rules to appear in over 50 years. Common nomenclatural practices, often malpractices, of protozoologists and parasitologists who work primarily in taxonomic fields are revealed and discussed in light of recommendations and mandatory regulations to be found in the new Code. Some errors have been due solely to carelessness; others have involved misinterpretations of various directives; still others have involved cases not adequately covered by the old Règles. Certain mistakes of the past cannot be changed; but others are to be rectified upon discovery, according to mandates in articles of the new Code. Practical applications of the rules of nomenclature are stressed, and examples are taken from actual situations found to exist throughout all major taxa of the phylum Protozoa.Because of the value of such discussion in both new and revisory work in protozoan systematics, the following major topics are given special consideration: matters of orthography, the original spelling of names and their justified or unjustified emendation; authorships and dates of names, who is responsible and when, and how such data are properly cited; mandatory dates in the new Code, and their effect on both already established names and names not yet proposed; the principles of priority and conservation or continuity, and how the rules attempt to satisfy proponents of both of these diametrically opposed “laws”; the concepts of synonymy and homonymy, and proper methods of treating names which have become involved in such situations; family-group names, and the several special nomenclatural problems they present to protozoan taxonomists; the major problem of types, and the peculiar position of protozoologists with regard to the type concept, especially type-specimens for categories in the species-group; miscellaneous considerations, several unrelated but significant topics not appropriate for inclusion in preceding sections of the paper.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1550-7408.1962.tb02626.x
Permalink
