Gonorhynchus Cuvier, 1816

Kottelat, Maurice, 2016, On Gonorynchus, Gonorhynchus, Gonorinchus, Gonorhinchus and Gonorrhynchus, and some other names of labeonine fishes (Teleostei: Gonorynchidae and Cyprinidae), Zootaxa 4178 (3), pp. 443-450 : 444

Gonorhynchus Cuvier, 1816

With such a widely known and used name as Gonorynchus , based on classical Greek words frequently used to form names in zoology, but with the infrequent spelling -rynchus instead of the frequent -rhynchus, one expects that some subsequent authors would have spelled the name Gonorhynchus instead of Gonorynchus , either as a mispelling, an emendation or a new name.

Indeed, Cuvier (1816a: 196) used the spelling Gonorhynchus for a subgenus of Cyprinus (explicitly stated p. 191 and made clear also by the size of the font). Cuvier attributed the name to Gronovius (1763), provided a diagnosis and included the only then-known species. Neither Scopoli nor alternative spellings are mentioned. This made the name Gonorhynchus available, with Cuvier, 1816 as author. The type species, by monotypy, is “ Cyprinus gonorynchus Gm [elin, 1789: 1422]”, which is C. gonorynchus Linné, 1766: 528 , also based on Gronovius (1763). This makes Gonorhynchus Cuvier, 1816 a junior objective synonym of Gonorynchus Scopoli, 1777 , but not an homonym, because of the one-letter difference in spelling. The text in the second edition of Cuvier (1829: 277) is quasi identical to the 1816 one. The Index of Cuvier (1816a), in volume 4 ( Cuvier 1816b: 217), uses the spelling Gonorhinchus. The two volumes have been issued simultaneously ( Roux 1976; Evenhuis 1997: 173); as first reviser I give precedence to the spelling Gonorhynchus .

Gonorinchus Bosc, 1817: 301 is an incorrect subsequent spelling of Gonorhynchus Cuvier, 1816 . Gonorrynchus Ogilby, 1911: 32 is an unjustified emendation of Gonorhynchus Cuvier, 1816 .

Jarocki (1822: 57) provided a description of the genus Gonorhynchus , with a reference to “GL” (Laur. Gronovius). Neither Gonorynchus Scopoli nor Gonorhynchus Cuvier (or alternative spellings) are mentioned. But Jarocki was well aware of Cuvier (1816a); for example he used Lebia , a name created by Cuvier (1816a), and explicitly referred it to Cuvier. Jarocki's Gonorhynchus is therefore not a new name but a subsequent use of Cuvier's.

The spelling Gonorhynchus is also used by Fleming (1822: 386), this time with a reference to Cuvier. Cuvier (1816a) was an important work and it has been translated in several languages, for example to German by Schinz ( Cuvier 1822), which also includes Gonorhynchus p. 335 (I did not research the other translations of Cuvier (1816)). Besides, it is possible that other authors have independently made the name Gonorhynchus available, even before Cuvier (1816). This does not change the present argument.

Gonorincus Rafinesque, 1815: 88 has no diagnosis but a bibliographic reference (“Gr.”), which, although laconic, is reasonably clear for that time and for those then familiar with ichthyological literature and is an available name; the name does not seem to have been used again. The type species apparently is Cyprinus gonorynchus Linné, 1766 , by subsequent designation by Fowler, 1941: 728. This makes it a junior objective synonym of Gonorynchus Scopoli, 1777 .