I’m a little embarrassed to be writing this post, but I’m still unable to figure out some of the proposed changes to anole binomials in Nicholson et al.’s (2012) taxonomic revision of Anolis. I’m a real novice with implementation of “The Code” and the rules of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, so I’m looking for a bit of help from AA readers who are more expert than I.
I understand that some of Nicholson et al.’s proposed changes to specific epithets are necessitated by the fact that their taxonomic revision would change the gender of generic epithets (e.g., Anolis chlorocyanus would be Deiroptyx chlorocyana due to the fact that Anolis is masculine and Deiroptyx is feminine). These types of changes are demanded by The Code’s article 31.2. However, I am struggling to understand Nicholson et al.’s proposed changes to twelve binomials that – to my novice eyes – do not appear to be due strictly to changes in the gender of generic epithets (see table below). Because the authors of this paper include leading authorities on taxonomy and nomenclature, I trust that these changes are not simply the result of typographical errors.
In most cases cited in my table, Nicholson et al. add or change vowels in the correct original spellings of species epithets, where the “correct original spelling” is defined under The Code as “the spelling used in the work in which the name was established.” Based on my amateur reading of The Code, changes to correct original spellings are not permitted unless it can be shown that the original spelling was inadvertently incorrect due to a printer’s error or related mistakes unrelated to the authors lack of familiarity with Latin (ICZN, Article 32). Can somebody enlighten me about which articles in the code govern the changes in the table below?
In this table, I provide the genus to which Nicholson et al. assign each species, the gender of this genus, the exact spelling for the specific epithet used in their manuscript, the spelling of the specific epithet from the Reptile Database, the spelling of the specific epithet from the original publication (NAs indicate that I have yet to check the original citation4), the type of change that Nicholson et al. have proposed, and the citation of the original description. Below the table, I provide some additional details about three specific cases. Thanks in advance for your help.
| Genus |
Gender |
Nicholson et al. |
Reptile Database |
Original Spelling |
Change |
Description Citation |
| Anolis |
Masculine |
anfilioquioi |
anfiloquioi |
anfiloquioi |
o to io |
Garrido 1980 |
| Anolis |
Masculine |
maclientus |
macilentus |
macilentus |
e to ie |
Garrido and Hedges 1992 |
| Anolis |
Masculine |
pumilis |
pumilus |
pumilus4 |
u to i |
Garrido 1988 |
| Ctenonotus |
Masculine |
monoensis |
monensis |
monensis4 |
e to oe |
Stejneger 1904 |
| Ctenonotus |
Masculine |
nubilis |
nubilus |
nubilus4 |
u to i |
Garman 1887 |
| Dactyloa |
Feminine |
anatolorus |
anatoloros |
anatoloros |
o to u |
Ugueto et al. 2007 |
| Dactyloa |
Feminine |
euskalerrari |
euskalerriari |
euskalerriari |
ia to a |
Barros et al. 1996 |
| Deiroptyx |
Feminine |
domincanus [see comments for correction and clarification] |
dominicanus |
dominicanus |
delete i |
Rieppel 1980 [Note: the original version of this post incorrectly referenced de Quieroz et al. 1998] |
| Norops1 |
Masculine |
forbesi |
forbesorum |
forbesi |
si to sorum |
Smith & Van Gelder 1955 |
| Norops |
Masculine |
schiedei [see comments] |
schiedii |
schiedii4 |
ei to ii |
Wiegmann 1834 |
| Norops2 |
Masculine |
williamsi |
williamsii |
williamsii |
ii to i |
Bocourt 1870 |
| Norpos3 |
? |
parvicirculatus |
parvicirculata |
parvicirculata4 |
rops to rpos and a to us |
Alvarex del Toro & Smith 1956 |
I have a bit more information about three cases in this table.
1. Anolis forbesi is the original spelling in Smith and Van Gelder (1955), but Michels and Bauer (2004) corrected this name to Anolis forbesorum due to the fact that this species is named after more than one person. Michels and Bauer (2004) suggest that this change is a “justified emendation” under Articles 31.1.2-3 and 33.2.2 of The Code. We know that at least one author of Nicholson et al. (2012) was aware of this report because Michels and Bauer thank Jay Savage for having provided thoughtful comments on their manuscript. I’m not sure why Nicholson et al. (2012) reject this proposed change by using forbesi.
2. Nicholson et al. (2012) delete the final ‘i’ from a species originally named Anolis williamsii, in spite of the fact that article 33.4 of the ICZN states that “[t]he use of the genitive ending -i in a subsequent spelling of a species-group name that is a genitive based upon a personal name in which the correct original spelling ends with -ii, or vice versa, is deemed to be an incorrect subsequent spelling, even if the change in spelling is deliberate.” Which part of this rule or related rules in The Code permits changes from ‘ii’ to ‘i’ under some conditions?
3. Nicholson et al. (2012) change both the generic and specific epithets of Anolis parvicirculata when they refer to this species throughout their manuscript as Norpos parvicirculatus (see pages 91 and 96). Although I have included this change in my table for completeness, it is the one change that I think we must attribute to a typo, even though the misspelling of Norops as Norpos appears at least twice. The change from parvicirculatus seems likely due to the fact that this species originally, and incorrectly, had a feminine rather than a masculine specific epithet.
4. This post was revised to include original spellings confirmed by Peter Uetz, thus no more NAs in the table. Thanks Peter!
