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newly described: Apistogramma ortegai

dwarfpike

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5 Year Member
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Seattle, Wa
Wholesellers won't change for what, about fifty years? How many still list Central American cichlids as Cichlasoma? Kullander only restricted the genus to port cichlids back in 1983.
 

regani

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Brisbane, Australia
I agree that if the authors have made some questionable decisions in the description then questions should be raised. In science that usually means publications by others dispute on the original article and providing evidence to support an alternative opinion. Some journals will also allow direct replies to published articles.
I guess we will just have to wait and see if that happens. Generally in science these forms of discussions are fairly slow with months or years between replies, so any possible revision is likely still some time off. It will probably happen when everyone just got used to the new name :)
 

Mike Wise

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Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is the official guide for naming new animals species. The rules are rather specific - and I must say that the authors followed it. Therefore, the holotype specimen has a scientifically valid name - A. ortegai. Some of the paratype specimens have come to be questioned whether or not they are the same species as the holotype. It appears that the former A. sp. Papagei is the same form as A. ortegai, therefore it should be called A. ortegai. A. ortegai has a valid description and a holotype specimen. The name of the holotype will never change, unless it is synonymized with a previous valid scientifically described species.

With regards to the type material, it depends on if someone is a 'lumper' or a 'splitter' as to whether or not the Pebas form is a separate species from A. ortegai. A 'lumper' will call it A. ortegai. A 'splitter' will call it either an undescribed species, A. sp. Pebas, or A. cf. ortegai (Pebas), which is my preference for now. Time will tell which group is correct. My bet is on the 'splitters'.:)
 

ADC Nederland

Member
Messages
86
Location
Purmerend, The Netherlands
I will use the following naming on my website, please correct me if there is a better way of naming them,

Apistogramma cf. Ortegai (Papagei)
Apistogramma cf. Ortegai (Pebas)
Apistogramma cf. Ortegai (Roca Eterna)

The cf. infront of the Papagei is probably wrong but I want people that come on my website to know what species they are looking at and probably a lot of my customers never heard of name changes and stick to the names they know from previous encounters.
 

Rolo

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5 Year Member
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415
Location
Bremen, Germany
A. cf. Ortegai (Papagei) is wrong, because the holotype shows a Papagei. So this form is identical with A. ortegai and you shouldn't use the "cf." here.

Another thing is, that in the rules of nomenclature only the genus names are written with capital letters, the species names are written with small letters.
So, it's not Apistogramma cf. Ortegai but Apistogramma cf. ortegai ;-) (I assume it's from the auto-correction, right?)

regards,
Rolo
 

Mike Wise

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Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
As Rolo states, there should be no 'cf.' in the "A. cf. Ortegai (Papagei)" name. Just call it A. ortegai. If you want people to know it's the same species as the former A. sp. Papagei, just label it "A. ortegai (formerly A. sp. 'Papagei')". Same could be done for all of the other newly described species that had published scientifically undescribed names but this would get tedious.:D I include a column of 'Other Names' on my species list.
 

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