Dear Harry,

Great job, thanks for helping elucidate the nomenclatorial history of this
very common species.

Cheers,

José
________________________________________________________
José H. Leal, Ph.D., Director
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
Editor, The Nautilus
www.shellmuseum.org

3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road
Sanibel, FL 33957 USA
(239)395-2233
fax (239)395-6706


________________________________________
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Harry G. Lee
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 8:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CONCH-L] Pickly cockle issues: the Florida Prickly Cockle
[Trachycardium egmontianum (Shuttleworth, 1856)]

On 7/14/07 I posted this:

Dear Listers,

"In 2004 from 3/6 to 3/8 and 4/3 to 4/4 there were ten Conch-L postings on
the nomenclatorial cloud surrounding Cardium mindanense Reeve, 1844  and C.
egmontianum Shuttleworth, 1856.

"The testy issue was which of two type designations published in the 1990's
held sway in determining the identity of the former species, which was based
on three syntypes, only one (the one Reeve illustrated!) of which was the
Carolinian-Bahamian cockle we have correctly come to recognize as a
Trachycardium under the latter name. The other two represent an Indo-Pacific
species.

"With considerable help from Dick Petit, I decided that this conundrum
required the application of the plenary powers of  ... you guessed it ...
that august council discussed many times in this forum, the International
Commission for Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN).

"To serve interested readers, I've ... posted ... our petition to the ICZN
to resolve the nomenclatorial tangle. Perhaps this example will help to
reveal how "due process" operates in the taxonomic nomenclature of animals.

"I'll try to remember to post a link to the ICZN Ruling on the petition,
which can be expected within the next two years or so."

Today, not much over a year since the petition was published, I received
news that:

"The Commission has ruled that the current usage of the specific name
egmontianum for a common and widespread western Atlantic bivalve
Trachycardium egmontianum (Shuttleworth, 1856) of the family CARDIIDAE is
conserved by setting aside all lectotype designations for Cardium mindanense
Reeve, 1844 prior to that by Vidal (1998)."

Details are available at < http://www.jaxshells.org/lcar.htm>.

Those of you who changed their labels on Florida Prickly Cockle specimens to
Trachycardium mindanense may now safely restore the time-honored cognomen T.
egmontianum to them.

Harry

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