Hey Marcus,
As I understand things, the simplistic answer is, yes. A species name is
defined as binominal unit; the genus and species names combined. Thus two
species in different genera can have the same "specific" part of the name.
An example would be Clithon chlorostomus (Sowerby, 1833) and Nerita
chlorostoma Lamarck, 1816, both are in the family Neritidae, but because
they are in different genera, they can have the same "specific" name (with
different endings to match the gender of the genus). When individual
species are reassigned into different genera, the situation becomes a bit
more complex (and I welcome any corrections if I get this wrong). If Nerita
chlorostoma was later proved to be a Trochus and moved to that genus, it
would still block the later use of the name Nerita chlorostoma by the
principle of homonymy, even though the original species had been moved to a
different family. Similarly, if Clithon chlorostomus (Sowerby, 1833) was
later determined to more properly belong in the genus Nerita, then it would
be a junior synonym to the more senior Lamarck (1816) name and thus
unavailable (or whatever the correct taxonomic term is for a junior
synonym). It would need a new name (probably available in the many synonyms
it has). In fact, Sowerby described his species originally as Neritina
chlorostoma, thus preventing the use of that name today, even though his
species is now in the genus Clithon. Once again, this points to the often
mentioned critical need to research a species to the original author.
Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA
PS. I realize that reading through the above can be a bit confusing. It
was all clear to me as I wrote it, but reading through it afterwards,
well...
-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Marcus Coltro
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 8:13 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Volvarina monicae
I got this specimen from Colombia, it is close to Volvarina monicae
pictured on Cossignani's book
but looks like a Prunum not a Volvarina.
http://www.wonderphotos.com/shellphotos/prunum.jpg
By the way, I noticed there is a Marginella monicae from East Africa, so one
of them is not valid?
Can two shells have the same name in the same family?
Marcus
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