paleonet "palaeo name" to override "neontology name"

["Kenneth A. Monsch" <kmonsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear all,

My co-author and I are investigating the following case. The name of a certain genus of fossil fishes seems to apply as well to Recent species that are generally known under a different generic name. The particularity of this case is, that the "Recent" name is a junior synonym of the "fossil" name. The "Recent" name is frequently used and the "fossil" name rarely. However, of both necessary ICZN conditions for maintaining a frequently used junior synonym as valid rather than its more obscure senior synonym, only one is met. If you want to verify what these conditions are, look up ICZN (1999: arts. 23.9.1.1 and 23.9.1.2). Thus, what we want to assert in a taxonomic note that is in prep. is the following. A "Recent" name should be put to disuse in favour of a name that has been used only for fossils till now!

I am not aware of it if something like this has happened before. That is why I'd like to ask if anyone out there on the list knows of previously published reports of similar cases.

Thanks in advance,
Ken
********************************************
Dr. Kenneth A. Monsch
Department of Vertebrate Zoology
Institute of Zoology
University of Wrocław
ul. H. Sienkiewicza 21    tel +48-71-3754017    
50-335 Wroclaw            fax +48-71-3222817
POLAND              kmonsch@biol.uni.wroc.pl