MolluscaBase name details
Murex forskoehlii mediterranea Kovalis, 2010
730403 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:730403)
unaccepted
Subspecies
Murex forskoehlii mediterranea Kovalis & Korkos, 2009 · unaccepted (unavailable name under ICZN Art. 16.4)
marine
Kovalis M. (2010) Remarks concerning the description and status of <i>Murex forskoehlii mediterranea</i> Kovalis & Korkos, 2009. <i>Gloria Maris</i> 49(3-4): 89-92. [details]
MolluscaBase eds. (2024). MolluscaBase. Murex forskoehlii mediterranea Kovalis, 2010. Accessed at: https://www.molluscabase.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=730403 on 2024-04-29
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original description
Kovalis M. (2010) Remarks concerning the description and status of <i>Murex forskoehlii mediterranea</i> Kovalis & Korkos, 2009. <i>Gloria Maris</i> 49(3-4): 89-92. [details]
From editor or global species database
Editor's comment There are two issues with regard the name Murex forskoehlii mediterranea. One issue is nomenclatural, the other taxonomical.Nomenclature. In the original description, the authors did not designate a holotype. As pointed out by Mienis (2010), their description does not satisfy ICZN Art. 16.4 ("fixation of name-bearing types to be explicit"). To correct this, the first author published a follow-up paper (Kovalis 2010) where a holotype is illustrated and indicated to be deposited in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. This action makes Murex forskoehlii mediterranea Kovalis, 2010 [note author and date] an available name.
Taxonomy. Murex forskoehlii is a species native to the Red Sea that has penetrated through the Suez Canal (Bitter Lakes) into the eastern Mediterranean. According to Mienis (2010), the specimens of M. forskoehlii from the Gulf of Suez "agree in full detail with the specimens occuring in the eastern Mediterranean". Mienis further commented that the evolutionary processes leading to the development of a subspecies have not had time to take place on such recent migrant populations. This view was challenged by Kovalis (2010) who claimed that "There is no doubt that the geographical separation and the characteristic features confirm the ICZN citeria of Murex forskoehlii mediterranea as a subspecies." However, there is no such thing as ICZN citeria for subspecies: the Code of Nomenclature rules the status of names, and leaves taxonomic decisions to scientific evidence. The editor is of the opinion that there is no scientific evidence for recognizing the immigrant (Lessepsian) populations of Murex forskoehlii as a separate subspecies. [details]
