Ichthyological note

On the authorship of and

by SFI © Werner Schwarzhans* (1), Gary Stringer (2) & Ronald Fricke (3) Submitted: 11 May 2019 Accepted: 14 Nov. 2019 Editor: R. Causse this citation for the Actinopterygii came into being. Indeed, the name ‘Actinopterygia’ was introduced by Cope (1887: 1017) and Résumé. – Taxonomie et taxinomie des taxons Actinopteri et Acti- was meant to be an amendment of his earlier name ‘Actinopteri’, nopterygii. albeit with a slight modification of the scope, i.e., by excluding the . Woodward (1889: xxiv and 1891: xxxviii and 423) Actinopteri a été décrit par Cope, 1871 et Actinopterygii est changed ‘Actinopterygia’ to ‘Actinopterygii’ but kept Cope’s origi- compris aujourd’hui sensu Goodrich, 1930. nal extent of the ‘Actinopteri’, e.g., including the Chondrostei and Key words. – Zoological nomenclature – Usage – Authorship. excluding the Cladistia. There seems to be no publication by Cope in 1891 mentioning ‘Actinopterygia’ or ‘Actinopterygii’. Apparent- ly the first to change the meaning of the Actinopterygii to encom- pass also the Cladistia was Goodrich (1930: xvii), as explained in Finding the correct authorship for higher taxonomic units in Rosen et al. (1981, who however erroneously listed on page 261 (Pisces) can be difficult and involve significant literature th “Actinopterygii Cope, 1891”). Rosen et al. (1981) resurrected research. Most of the entities were introduced during the 19 cen- the term Actinopteri Cope (1871) for ray-finned fishes excluding tury, and alternative concepts and changes in scope and definition Cladistia and emended the Actinopterygii as a higher hierarchy to are common. The names ‘Actinopteri’ and ‘Actinopterygii’ rep- include Cladistia in the sense of Goodrich (1930). This is opposed resent one such instance, both being frequently used, particularly to the original establishment of the Actinopterygii by Cope (1887) the latter. The authorship for the Actinopteri is variably given by as a replacement of ‘Actinopteri’ and of a lower hierarchical sense authors as Cope (1870), Cope (1871) or Cope (1872). A quick and (see also Patterson, 1982). by no means exhaustive research into the authorships given for the We consider the determination of the correct authorship and Actinopterygii brought to light: von Klein (1885), Cope (1887), date as essential for the availability of names in higher zoological Cope (1891), Woodward (1891) and sensu Goodrich (1930). Pri- nomenclature, in line with Dubois (2006 and 2015). In our view, mary and original references available to the authors were used in the name ‘Actinopterygii’ should probably be seen as an unneces- this research followed with online searches. The complex history of the two names and their circumscriptions was traced by Rosen et sary substitute for ‘Actinopteri’. If being used for ray-finned fishes al. (1981) and was comprehensively discussed by Patterson (1982). including Cladistia, which is the established usage today and has The scientific name Actinopteri was first introduced by Cope been for a long time, it should in our opinion be referred to as: (1871: 149) for the “Teleostei and Ganoidea of Müller, minus Actinopterygii sensu Goodrich, 1930. ”. He created the higher taxon Cladistia for the Polypteri- dae and placed it into the Crossopterygia in the same paper. The References work was apparently read at the American Philosophical Society in 1870, as stated in the heading of the article. In 1872, Cope (1872: Cope E.D., 1871. – Contribution to the ichthyology of the Lesser Antilles. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. (n.s.), 14(3): 445-483. 162) used the name Actinopteri again with the same meaning and wording (i.e., same circumscription). We conclude that the name Cope E.D., 1872. – Observations on the systematic relations of the fishes.Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (ser. 4), 9(19): 155-168. Actinopteri, meaning ray-finned fishes without Cladistia, has Cope Cope E.D., 1887. – General notes: geology and palaeontology. IV. (1871) as authorship. Am. Nat., 21(11): 1016-1019. The earliest authorship mentioned for the ‘Actinopterygii’ is DUBOIS A., 2006. – Proposed Rules for the incorporation of nomi- von Klein (1885) and it is rarely referenced in literature, but when, na of higher-ranked zoological taxa in the International Code of it is usually given as Klein, E.F. (or E.E.), 1885, B�eitr����ä�ge��� z�ur��� B�il���- Zoological Nomenclature. 2. The proposed Rules and their dung des Schädels der Knochenfische II.Jh. Ver. vaterländ. Naturk. rationale. Zoosystema, 28(1): 165-258. Württemberg, 41: 107-261. However, this article does not include DUBOIS A., 2015 – The Duplostensional Nomenclatural System any mentioning of ‘Actinopterygii’. Furthermore, the name is given for higher zoological nomenclature. Dumerilia, 5: 1-108. as ‘Dr. von Klein’ in the heading of the original article. A ‘General- Eichler J., 1915. – General-Register zu den Jahrgängen 40-70, Register’ of all articles published in the ‘Verein für vaterländische 1884-1914 der Jahreshefte des Vereins für vaterländische Naturkunde in Württemberg’ for the years 1884 to 1914 (Eichler, Naturkunde in Württemberg. Jh. Ver. Vaterländ. Naturk. Würt- 1915: 25) mentions ‘Klein, Adolph’ as author, without the nobil- temberg, 71, Beilage: 88 p. ity attribute ‘von’. Anyway, ‘Klein, A. (1885)’ or ‘von Klein, A. Goodrich E.S., 1930. – Studies on the Structure & Develop- (1885)’ obviously cannot be regarded as the authorship of the Acti- ment of . Macmillan and Co., London. XXX + nopterygii. Unfortunately, we were unable to find, how and when 837 p.

(1) zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. [[email protected]] (2) Professor Emeritus of Geology, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, Louisiana 71209, USA. [[email protected]] (3) im Ramstal 76, 97922 Lauda-Königshofen, Germany. [[email protected]]

Cybium 2020, 44(1): 7-8. https://doi.org/10.26028/cybium/2020-441-001 On the authorship of Actinopteri and Actinopterygii Sc h w a r z h a n s e t a l .

Patterson C., 1982. – Morphology and interrelationships of Woodward A.S., 1889. – Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the primitive Actinopterygian fishes.Am. Zool., 22(2): 241-259. British Museum (Natural History), Part I. British Museum Rosen D.E., Forey P.L., Gardiner B.G. & Patterson C., (Natural History), London: XLVII + 474 p., 17 pls. 1981. – Lungfishes, tetrapods, paleontology, and plesiomorphy. Woodward A.S., 1891. – Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 167(4): 159-276. British Museum (Natural History). Part II. British Museum von Klein A., 1885. – Beiträge zur Bildung des Schädels der (Natural History), London. XLV + 567 p., 16 pls. Knochenfische. II.Jh. Ver. vaterländ. Naturk. Württemberg, 41: 107-261.

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