Re: paleonet ICBN and specific names

[f.j.lindemann@xxxxxxxxxx]

At 10:59 10.10.2003 +1000, you wrote:
>...
>The author published a couple of plant varieties in 1987, lets call them 
>Exus albus var. thomasi,. E. albus var. richardi. He now believes these to 
>be species separate from E. albus, so therefore wants to raise them to 
>species rank; i.e. Exus thomasi and E. richardi. Under the ICZN such names 
>published in 1987 as varieties would be deemed as infrasubspecific 
>(published after 1960) and not regulated by that code, therefore if they 
>were raised to species rank, they presumably would be new species. This is 
>the interpretation put on this by the referee I mentioned above. However 
>the author gives the impression that he is simply raising something from 
>an essentially subspecific rank to specific rank. Which is it to be?

They are not new species, but new combinations (see ICBN Art. 49). It is 
possible to raise a variety to the rank of species. This is then treated as 
a new combination, i.e. the original author of the variety epithet is now 
placed in brackets, followed by the name of the author of the new combination.

fjl


Franz-Josef Lindemann
Palaeontological Museum
P.O.Box 1172 Blindern, N-0318 Oslo
Sars' gate 1, N-0562 Oslo
Phone: +47 22 85 16 59
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