Ah no, Art, the conditional name is something the ICZN has been trying to
stamp out. Problem is, no one thought to prohibit it until our lifetime, so
you could get away with it until 1961. Here's a made-up example: Suppose an
anthropologist decided, on the basis of diet, that humanity (Homo sapiens
Linnaeus, 1758) evolved from flying pigs (Sus volatilis Weil, 1998), but
didn't have the evidence he needed to prove his ideas. Under the old rules,
he could propose Hominisus alatus, or the winged man-pig, as a conditional
name for the hypothetical intermediate stage awaiting only the discovery of
bones. Most of the real names that taxonomists have proposed conditionally
have been less egregious than this case, but not all (the scientific name
for the yeti and several kinds of sea serpents come to mind), and I for one
am glad that they are now against the rules.

Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama
Heart of Dixie