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Home » Forums » General Discussion

Unpublished New Species

Howdy y'all,
I came across a situation as I was researching false click beetles on internet. I found names of two species of false click beetles I've never heard of before. After I was able to get the label informations on the two species which are holotype specimens; I cross referenced those names to all the papers the author had published over the span of his career. I couldn't find any publications on those two species. According to the label, these beetles were determined as new species back in 1967. The two species based on the holotypes I presumed were never described in any literature at all. My question is: According to the established protocols by the ICZN, what happens to the status of a species based on unpublished holotypes deposited in a museum where the author didn't publish it?
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Contributed by Robert Otto on 27 March, 2008 - 8:58pm

I did some searching...
...through The Code and couldn't find anything that expressly makes such names unavailable, since they were never published to begin with. My interpretation is that, were the species to be described using the names on the labels, the author of the paper - not the original determiner - would be the author of the species (and accordingly, new holotype labels should thus be affixed). Any name, however, could be used.

If someone has a different interpretation, please speak up.

Best to check the official list of names, however, to make sure they truly have not been published.
… Ted C. MacRae, 28 March, 2008 - 11:17pm login or register to post comments

 
Unpublished Holotypes
The names on the holotype labels were designated by the author. As I cross referenced those two names to the list of species he described over the span of his career, I found no matches. If those two names on the holotype labels were not published in a scientific journal, those names do not exist. Therefore, they need to described and published. The trick is, determining if those names are still available or otherwise they'll each have a new species name. I am in the process right now to correspond with two entomologists to determine the existance of the publication to validate these names. I have a feeling no such publication exist which would invalidate the status of those two beetles and would have to consider to describe and re-name the beetles. Thank you for your assistance and the link to the site. I now have it saved as my favorites to consult later.
… Robert Otto, 29 March, 2008 - 9:59pm login or register to post comments

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