Gyps africanus (1 Viewer)

[Mike Earp]

The correct source and precise date of the name Gyps africanus Salvadori, 1865 (Giorgio Aimassi, Zoological Bibliography 2023 8(6): 93–99)

ABSTRACT: The year that Gyps africanus was described is well known, but almost all recent authors cite an incorrect reference paper, published some years later. The evidence reveals that Salvadoriʹs description was published in at least three different versions, with differences in the wording. This seems most likely to have been caused by a failure in thorough planning of when and where to publish the papers read to the Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, after the reports of such meetings ceased to be published in the Memorie della Reale Accademia delle Scienze and began to be published independently, in the Atti della Reale Accademia delle Scienze. Presently available evidence reveals the exact day on which the binomial Gyps africanus was introduced, and the original version of the reference text. In this the author used two spellings affricanus and africanus, a situation resolved by the application of Art. 24.2.4 of the Code (I.C.Z.N., 1999).

 

[l_raty]

Complete OD, dated 27 May 1865 : here or here.
The other 1865 publication : here.
The third publication, using only the spelling africanus, in 1869 : here.

(I could be argued, however, that "affricanus", coined for a species explicitly said to be "ex Africa", is to be corrected under 32.5.1 to africanus (which is, by the way, a standard Latin word). If two spellings are used in an OD, but this OD also contains evidence that one of these resulted from an inadvertent error that is to be corrected into the other one, no First Reviser is needed.)