Re: paleonet Replicas as Type Specimens

[Hans Kerp <kerp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The current edition of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN)
which supersedes all previous editions is the St Louis Code or Black Code
(2000). A holotype may indeed be an illustration. This may sound strange.
However, it should be realised that the  ICBN has been designed to cover all
extant and fossil plants.

A type is either a single specimen conserved in one herbarium or other
collection or institution, or an illustration (Art. 8.1). Type specimens of
names of taxa must be preserved permanently and may not be living plants or
cultures. However, cultures of fungi and algae, if preserved in a metabolically
inactive state, are acceptable as types (Art. 8.4).

In some cases it is simply not possible to preserve a specimen or a specimen
might be lost. In such cases an illustration is definitely the best option. I
am not very familiar with the ICZN but I wonder what the type of an amoeba
would be.

Hans Kerp

Forschungsstelle für Paläobotanik
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität
Münster
Germany




Franz-Josef Lindemann schrieb:

> At 09:09 05.07.2004 -02-30, you wrote:
> >Greetings,
> >
> >Are there documented examples of fossil replicas (latex, plaster, etc.)
> >being used as reposited types?
>
> In botany a holotype may actually be an illustration (see article 9.1 of
> the Tokyo Code: "A holotype ... is the one specimen or illustration used by
> the author, or designated by the author as the nomenclatural type."). Yes,
> this sounds strange to me, too. After all, the illustration is presumably
> based on a real specimen. Nevertheless, that's the wording in the ICBN.
>
> In zoology the name-bearing type must be a natural specimen (or its natural
> mould). There are of course cases where replicas are in practice "used as
> reposited types", in particular when the original has disappeared during
> destructive preparation (e.g. grinding method), but strictly speaking the
> type specimen in those cases does not exist any more.
>
> Cheers,
> fj
>
> Franz-Josef Lindemann
> Palaeontological Museum
> Natural History Museums and Botanical Garden
> P.O.Box 1172 Blindern, N-0318 Oslo
> visiting address: Sars' gate 1, N-0562 Oslo
> Phone: +47 22 85 16 59
> Fax: +47 22 85 18 00