Aleurostictus Kirby, 1827

Smith, Andrew B. T., 2004, Clarification on the Nomenclatural Status of Six Genus-Group Names in the Tribe Trichiini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 58 (2), pp. 285-291 : 286

Aleurostictus Kirby, 1827

Aleurosticti: Kirby 1827 [original spelling].

Aleurostictus: Stephens 1839 [justified emendation].

Nomenclatural Status. Available but invalid name, junior synonym of Gnorimus LePeletier and Serville, 1828 as a reversal of precedence under Article 23.9.2 of the Code. This action was taken by Dechambre (2001) to counteract the erroneous resurrection of Aleurostictus as a valid name by Ádám (1994) and Tauzin (2000). Dechambre (2001) outlined the case against using Aleurostictus by pointing out that Tauzin (2000) violated Article 23.11 of the Code, which states that ‘‘If an author wishes to replace a name in prevailing usage by its older synonym when the conditions of Article 23.9.1 are met, he or she must apply to the Commission for a ruling under the plenary power.’’ No such application to the commission has been published in the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. Additionally, the use of Aleurostictus as a valid name by Ádám (1994) and Tauzin (2000) (and subsequent authors such as Whitehead [2003]) all violate Article 23.9.6 which states ‘‘The deliberate use of a name contrary to Article 23.9.1, or the mentioning of a name in a synonymy, or its mere listing in an abstracting publication, or in a nomenclator or other index or list of names must not be taken into account in determining usage under Articles 23.9.1.1 and 23.9.1.2.’’ Tauzin (2000), Whitehead (2003), and perhaps others used Aleurostictus incorrectly because of the ‘‘deliberate use of a name contrary to Article 23.9.1.’’ The use of Aleurostictus by Ádám (1994) is not to be considered for prevailing usage because it is listed in a checklist, which is a ‘‘mere listing in an... index or list of names.’’ The nomenclatural action of Dechambre (2001) permanently gives Gnorimus priority over Aleurostictus thus ending the debate over which name is valid.

Type Species. Scarabaeus nobilis Linnaeus, 1758 (now Gnorimus nobilis ), here designated. Tauzin (2000) erroneously listed Scarabaeus nobilis as the type species ‘‘according to the original description.’’ However, two species were explicitly listed in the genus with the original description so one is selected here as the type species.