Talk:Symphodus melanocercus

Wrong date for synonym in S. melanocercus -- nomenclature help?
Also discussed in Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Fishes, copied here for posterity

"Hi, so just for the record I don't know much about taxonomy, but in Symphodus melanocercus, I was trying to add the source for Risso 1810 for the synonym Crenilabrus melanocercus, but I only saw that name in Risso 1826 (Eur. Mér., now cited in the article). The 1826 description has (.) next to the name, which to me suggests that (he thinks) it's a new species, so I'm confused why that synonym is dated 1810.

If Risso 1810 also refers to Ichthyologie de Nice, I don't see that name anywhere in that volume.

Other sources give 1826 / Eur. Mér. for the year of C. melanocercus, e.g.,,.

Should the year for that synonym be changed? Or should it stay 1810, as per Fishbase and the Red List ?

Thanks!

P.S., I'm not a biologist in case it isn't obvious, I just like finding sources :)

P.P.S., hopefully it's okay to ask this here instead of the article's talk page, I figured it was more active and that anyone who knows about fish taxonomy would be able to answer. :)"

Umimmak (talk) 11:00, 25 June 2017 (UTC)


 * . Thanks for inquiring about this. It should stay as 1810. The author citation given in the taxobox is a kind of short hand that follows a convention in zoology (see author citation (zoology)). While the name Crenilabrus melanocercus was actually published in 1826, that publication wasn't actually a description of a new species. The 1826 publication was simply transferring the melanocercus species to a new genus. The convention is that when a species is transferred to a different genus, the original author and date are enclosed in parentheses when cited. When the name in the original genus (in this case Lutjanus melanocercus) has an author citation, no parentheses are used. Plantdrew (talk) 17:52, 25 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks, :). Okay I think that makes more sense to me now. Umimmak (talk) 23:52, 25 June 2017 (UTC)