Orectochilus Dejean, 1833

Gustafson, Grey T. & Miller, Kelly B., 2013, On the family- and genus-series nomina in Gyrinidae Latreille, 1810 (Coleoptera, Adephaga), Zootaxa 3731 (1), pp. 77-105 : 96

Orectochilus Dejean, 1833

Authorship of Orectochilus has also been variously attributed to different authors such as Dejean (1833), Stephens (1833), Lacordaire (1835) and Eschcholtz’s unpublished work. Dejean (1833) introduced the generic nomen Orectochilus , attributed it to Eschcholtz, and associated it with several species, one of which was O. villosus , the type species by subsequent designation of Balfour-Browne (1945: 111). According to the Code ’s Article 12.2.5, Dejean’s genus-series nomen is valid by indication, since it was published before 1931, in a work with consistent binominal nomenclature, and it was used in combination with previously available species-series nomina. Lacordaire’s (1835) description, however, was the first for the genus.

Another problem presents itself with the type fixation of Orectochilus and authorship of the type species. Balfour-Browne (1945), in his attempt to fix some of the nomenclatural issues and type designations within GYRINIDAE , designated the type of Orectochilus as Gyrinus villosus Illiger, 1798 , by monotypy within the genus, the nomen of which he attributed to Stephens (1835). However, the author of Gyrinus villosus is actually Müller (1776), the first to have provided the nomen accompanied with a short description. According to Article 67.7 of the Code, the type fixation by Balfour-Browne (1945), even with incorrect author attribution, is valid. We wish to clarify that the type of Orectochilus Dejean, 1833 is unambiguously Gyrinus villosus Müller, 1776 . Gyrinus villosus has been attributed to several other authors including Illiger, Gyllenhal, and, often, Fabricius. However, their publications date after Müller’s (1776) description that rendered the nomen available.

There also exists a subsequent incorrect spelling of Orectochilus , Orectocheilus . Several authors have used this spelling including Hope (1838), Agassiz (1846) and Desmarest (1851), but these all use an incorrect subsequent spelling.