Joe here. Just an 'aside' on type specimens, holotypes, etc.. Woe be he who
does not take care in maming a new species. Take the case of a tabulate
Devonian coral 'Syringopora nevadenses'...named after a specimen described
from Nevada...During some stages of the Devonian, the faunal province
extended from Nevada to across what is today Western Canada, through the
Arctic into northern Russia. Similar corals found in northern Canada and
Russia were therefore given the same name 'nevadenses'...Then it was decided
that the Nevada coral was really the same as another species previously
named...and the holotype lost its status as a new type specimen...but the
Canadian and Russian specimens were determined to indeed be new and kept the
name 'nevadenses'.. and a Russian specimen became the type specimen of
Syrigopora nevadenses...otherwise the coral named after Nevada was no longer
thought to occur in Nevada but occured in Canada and Russia. Today the type
specimen named after Nevada is a Russian specimen!!!