Nomenclatural and taxonomic notes on some species of Gyrinidae (Coleoptera)

Nomenclatural notes on the names of several species in the family Gyrinidae are provided. Six specific names are found to be junior homonyms. Three of them are replaced by nomina nova: Aulonogyrus marginatus (Aubé, 1838) by Aulonogyrus charlesaubei nom. nov., Gyrinus dubius Wallis, 1926 by Gyrinus suspectus nom. nov., and Macrogyrus (Andogyrus) colombicus australis (Brinck, 1977) by Macrogyrus (Andogyrus) colombicus brincki nom. nov. The other three junior homonyms were never considered congeneric with senior homonyms after the year 1899, and thus cannot not be replaced by new names: Gyretes dorsalis (Brullé, 1837), Macrogyrus australis (Brullé, 1835), and Andogyrus glaucus (Aubé, 1838); it is proposed that these names will be conserved by a ruling of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. It is found that Enhydrus sulcatus (Forsberg, 1821) is a primary homonym and a junior subjective synonym of Enhydrus sulcatus (Wiedemann, 1821) in Wiedemann & Germar (1821). The neotype is designated for Gyrinus striatus Fabricius, 1792, which is a senior primary homonym and a senior subjective synonym of G. striatus Olivier, 1792 (both currently in Aulonogyrus Motschulsky, 1853). Gyrinus striatus was published by Olivier not only in 1792, but again in the year 1795 (so far treated as the correct publishing year). To stabilise the nomenclature, one and the same specimen is designated simultaneously as the neotype for Gyrinus striatus Olivier, 1792, and G. striatus Olivier, 1795, and thus both names become objective synonyms. Gyrinus ovatus Klug, 1829 is a senior subjective synonym of Gyrinus gibbus Aubé, 1838 syn. nov. and of Gyrinus apicalis Sharp, 1878 syn. nov. Gyrinus racenisi Ochs, 1953 must be used as the valid name for Gyrinus ovatus sensu Aubé (1838b) (nec Klug 1829). Lectotypes are designated for Gyrinus apicalis Sharp, 1878, Gyrinus gibbus Aubé, 1838, Gyrinus ovatus Klug, 1829, and Gyrinus paykulli Ochs, 1927b. Type specimens and diagnostic characters are illustrated for G. striatus Fabricius, G. striatus Olivier, G. ovatus Klug, G. racenisi and G. paykulli.

Friedrich Dietrich v. Kurt Sprengel and their, largely American, plant-names

The vexing literary relationship between Kurt Sprengel and Friedrich Dietrich appears to have led to some of Dietrich’s work being willfully disregarded and subsequently forgotten/extinguished/suppressed. Examination of Dietrich’s oeuvre leads to the rehabilitation of fifteen of his new combinations, making securer by up to 175 years, some names in current use for largely New World plants. To take into account Dietrich’s work as a whole, four new combinations and three nomina nova are proposed with the help of authorities in the germane plant groups: Caamembeca andina (A.W. Benn.) J.F.B. Pastore & Mabb. (Bolivia), Callicarpa ekmanii I.E. Méndez & Mabb. (Cuba), Clematis wangiana Mabb., (Madagascar), Coleataenia pulchra (F. Dietr.) Mabb. & LeBlond (USA), Packera dubia (Spreng.) Trock & Mabb. (USA), Piper samainianum Mabb. (Peru), Rostellularia vahliana (Schult.) Mabb. (south Asia), for which a lectotype is designated, with other adjustments of names in Besleria (B. formosa now B. amabilis, tropical America), Oxalis (O. eckloniana now O. biloba, South Africa), Passiflora (P. arborea now P. magnoliifolia, Colombia), Ribes (R. ruizii now R. sylvestre, Chile), and possibly Tocoyena (South America), while further work on Lupinus is called for.

Every sponge its own name: removing Porifera homonyms

The occurrence of different sponge species bearing the same Linnean binomial name combination, i.e. homonyms, is to be avoided for obvious reasons. In a review of sponge taxon names of the World Porifera Database, we detected 121 homonymic cases (115 species-group names, 6 genus-group names), involving a total of 272 nominal taxa. It is the object of the present study to remove their occurrence by proposing new names for the junior homonyms following the rules of the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature as laid down in the Code (ICZN, 1999) and the on-line edition http://iczn.org/iczn/index.jsp . Homonym cases are discussed and, where applicable, junior homonyms are either replaced by nomina nova or reassigned to their earliest available synonyms. The order in which the homonyms are treated is alphabetical on original species name, with genus names separately treated at the end. A summary table with all proposed name changes is also presented to allow quick access to the junior homonyms and their proposed new names. A total of 116 nomina nova are proposed, including five new genus names.

Vincetoxicum (Apocynaceae—Asclepiadoideae) expanded to include Tylophora and allies

All 301 names in Tylophora and the small genera in Asclepiadeae-Tylophorinae now considered synonymous with Vincetoxicum, namely Amblyoglossum, Belostemma, Biondia, Blyttia, Diplostigma, Goydera, Hoyopsis, Hybanthera, Iphisia, Ischnostemma, Merrillanthus, Microstephanus, Nanostelma, Neohenrya, Oncostemma, Pentabothra, Pentastelma, Pleurostelma, Podostelma, Pycnostelma, Rhyncharrhena, Sphaerocodon, Spirella, Tylophoropsis and Vincetoxicopsis, are listed. A total of 107 new combinations are made (104 in Vincetoxicum, one in Dregea, one in Marsdenia, and one in Lygisma), 25 nomina nova have been coined, 141 typifications are undertaken and 10 new synonyms are proposed.

Asian species of the genera Anahita Karsch 1879, Ctenus Walckenaer 1805 and Amauropelma Raven, Stumkat & Gray 2001(Arachnida: Araneae: Ctenidae)

Specimens of the spider family Ctenidae from South, East and Southeast Asia were examined. Thirteen new species aredescribed: Anahita jinsi spec. nov. (male, female; China, Sichuan); Ctenus martensi spec. nov. (male; Nepal), Ctenuscladarus spec. nov. (male; Burma), Ctenus theodorianum spec. nov. (male, female; Laos, Oudomxai), Ctenus lishuqiangspec. nov. (female; China, Sichuan), Ctenus holthoffi spec. nov. (male, female; Laos, Champasak), Ctenus bayeri spec.nov. (male; Laos, Champasak); Amauropelma beyersdorfi spec. nov. (male; India, Himachal Pradesh), Amauropelmastaschi spec. nov. (male; India, Uttar Pradesh), Amauropelma ekeftys spec. nov. (male, ?female; India, Meghalaya),Amauropelma hoffmanni spec. nov. (male, female; Laos, Luang Nam Tha), Amauropelma jagelkii spec. nov. (male,female; Laos, Luang Prabang), Amauropelma annegretae spec. nov. (male, female; Laos, Luang Prabang). Ctenus simplexThorell 1897 (Luang Prabang, Vientiane) and C. robustus Thorell 1897 (Luang Nam Tha, Luang Prabang) are recordedfor the first time from Laos, and the female of C. simplex is described for the first time. Ctenus ramosus Thorell 1887, C.robustus and C. palembangensis Strand 1906 as well as internal copulatory structures of Anahita fauna Karsch 1879 areillustrated for the first time. Anahita feai (F.O. Pickard-Cambridge 1902) comb. nov., A. jucunda (Thorell 1897) comb.nov., A. denticulata (Simon 1884) comb. nov., A. smythiesi (Simon 1897) comb. nov. and Amauropelma fungifer (Thorell1890) comb. nov. are transferred from the genus Ctenus. The nomina nova “Ctenus karschi” and “Ctenus tamerlani” proposed by Roewer (1951) are recognised as unavailable and thus invalid names.

Lithobius (Monotarsobius) franciscorum sp. nov., a new lithobiid species from the Altai, with a key to the Central Asian species of the subgenus (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha)

Lithobius franciscorum sp. nov. is described and illustrated based on specimens from the Kazakh part of the Altai Moun-tains. The new species is characterized principally by the group of club-like setae situated on the males’ last femora, afeature unique in the whole genus. According to this character, the species appears to be closely related to the group ofspecies with similar setae on the males’ last tibiae, while the female of the new species resembles Lithobius nordenskioldiiStuxberg, 1876, with which it is compared. Keys to the Central Asian Monotarsobius Verhoeff, 1905 species’ males andfemales are presented as well. Three nomina nova are introduced, Lithobius farzalievae nom. nov. for Lithobius minimusFarzalieva, 2006, Lithobius dobrorukai nom. nov. for Lithobius mongolicus Dobroruka, 1960 and Lithobius insolens nom. nov. for Lithobius insolitus Farzalieva, 2006.