Apis mellifera woyigambella Amssalu et al.

ENGEL, MICHAEL S., 2006, A Giant Honey Bee from the Middle Miocene of Japan (Hymenoptera: Apidae), American Museum Novitates 3504 (1), pp. 1-12 : 11

Apis mellifera woyigambella Amssalu et al. , nomen nudum

Apis mellifera woyi ­gambella Amssalu, Nuru, Radloff, and Hepburn, 2004 : 79. Nomen nudum.

Apis mellifera woyi ­gambell Amssalu, Nuru, Radloff, and Hepburn, 2004 : 71. Lapsus calami .

COMMENTS: This subspecific epithet is plagued by any number of troubles. Firstly, the ICZN (1999) explicitly prohibits the use of hyphenation or other marks (e.g., umlauts, diereses, diacritics) and the name must be emended to a single word. More troubling, however, is that the name as proposed is not available in zoological nomenclature. The subspecies was not provided with a description in words purported to differentiate the taxon, and no holotype (or type series of any kind!) was designated, as expressly required by the ICZN (1999) for the purpose of nomenclatural stability. The name must be considered a nomen nudum and may not be used. In general, however, I believe subspecies within Apis should all be synonymized under their respective species and I have, therefore, not attempted to validate a name for this form herein. If ever validated, then this name will take its authorship and date from any such later publication in cases of competing priority .