A review of published evidence indicates that Bactricia nematodes Kirby, 1894 is a nomen nudum because it is an unavailable name. The specimen collected during the Lund University Swedish South African Expedition and reported by this name is a male of Bactricia bituberculata (Schaum, 1857)

Villet, Martin H

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1“Bactricia nematodes Kby., 1894” (Phasmida, Diapheromeridae, Diapheromerinae) is a nomen nudumMartin H. Villet11 Department of Zoology & Entomology, Rhodes University, African Street, Makhanda, 6140, South AfricaCorresponding author: Martin H. Villet (martin.villet@gmail.com)Copyright: © Martin H. Villet.  This is an open access article distributed under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (Attribution 4.0 International –  CC BY 4.0).Short CommunicationAbstractA review of published evidence indicates that Bactricia nematodes Kirby, 1894 is a nomen nudum because it is an unavailable name. The specimen collected during the Lund University Swedish South African Expedition and reported by this name is a male of Bactricia bituberculata (Schaum, 1857).Key words: Lund University Swedish South African Expedition, nomen dubium, Phasmida, species inquirenda, stick insectIntroductionThe Lund University Swedish South Africa Expedition (LUSSAE) of 1950–1951 resulted in a series of volumes entitled “South African Animal Life”. In Volume 3, Klaus Günther reviewed the 20 specimens of stick insects that were collect-ed on the expedition and assigned them to 10 species (Günther 1957). One male specimen (Fig. 1b) was assigned to “Bactricia nematodes K[ir]by., 1894” (Phasmidae, Heteronemiinae) (Günther 1957, 93). This record was apparently the source for a second, less detailed mention of Bactricia nematodes (Phas-matidae, Heteronemiinae) by Schoeman (1985). No other published references to B. nematodes are known.Notes under the entry for Bactricia Kirby, 1896 on the comprehensive Phasmid Species File Online (PSFO) database (Brock et al. 2023) suggests that there is “no such species?” as B. nematodes, and that Schoeman (1985) makes “[r]eference to a Bactricia ‘nematodes’ in South Africa, clearly in error”. Bactricia nematodes is therefore currently a nomen dubium and consequently a species inquirenda.This study is an account of the taxonomic nomenclature, intended identi-fication and actual identity of Günther (1957) and Schoeman’s (1985) “Bac-tricia nematodes”.NomenclatureGünther’s (1957) mention of the name Bactricia nematodes is not associated with any description, diagnosis or illustration of the relevant specimen, so it is clearly not an attempt at an original description, for which Günther had ample Academic editor: John Midgley Received: 9 November 2023 Accepted: 7 December 2023 Published: 23 February 2024ZooBank: https://zoobank.org/86878B3B-6394-4ABA-8616-3AA45B9F1B80Citation: Villet MH (2024) “Bactricia nematodes Kby., 1894” (Phasmida, Diapheromeridae, Diapheromerinae) is a nomen nudum. African Invertebrates 65(1): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.3897/AfrInvertebr.65.115507African Invertebrates 65(1): 1–7 (2024) DOI: 10.3897/AfrInvertebr.65.1155072African Invertebrates 65(1): 1–7 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/AfrInvertebr.65.115507Martin H. Villet: Bactricia nematodes is a nomen nudumexperience in publishing before 1957 (Bragg and Zompro 2007). By citing Kirby as the taxonomic author of the name, Günther implied that B. nematodes was not intended as a new name (unless it was by reference). He was also explicit in his introduction to his chapter that he was certain of only one new species in the LUSSAE sample, alluding to his original description of Ramulus rubrotae-niatus Günther, 1957 in this same publication. He illustrated this description of R. rubrotaeniatus and, since Günther usually illustrated his new species (Bragg and Zompro 2007), the lack of a figure of B. nematodes also suggests that no original description was intended in this context.The species is also not validated by citation of the prior publication of “K[ir]by., 1894” (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) 1999, Article 13.1.2) because Günther (1957) did not reference the work, none of Kirby’s publications (listed on the comprehensive PSFO database) was pub-lished in 1894 and the lack of a reference for the citation disallows the detec-tion of a misprint. The genus Bactricia was described two years after Günther’s cited date (Kirby 1896), yet Günther (1957) did not use parentheses around the authorship of B. nematodes to indicate that the specific epithet had been described in another genus in 1894 and then recombined with Bactricia in or after 1896. A search of the PSFO database for another source of the specific epithet nematodes returned only Phasma (Bacteria) nematodes de Haan, 1842. De Haan’s specific epithet has not been used elsewhere in combination with Bactricia Kirby, 1896 (Delfosse 2005; Brock et al. 2023) and so does not provide Figure 1. A Westwood’s (1859: Plate V, fig. 5) illustration of Bacteria trophinus [sic] W. ♂ (No longer under copyright) B habitus of the LUSSAE specimen identified as Bactricia nematodes. (CC BY-NC 2.0 Deed, Lund University Biological Mu-seum: Entomology, downloaded 12 Nov 2023, original photographs and copyright licence available at http://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=127240649%40N08&text=Bactricia%20spp) C Westwood’s (1859: Plate V, fig. 7) illustration of Lon-chodes nematodes [sic] de H. ♂ (No longer under copyright; also reproduced by Delfosse (2005: 37)). Scale bar: 50 mm.3African Invertebrates 65(1): 1–7 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/AfrInvertebr.65.115507Martin H. Villet: Bactricia nematodes is a nomen nuduman alternative source that may be validated by bibliographic reference. Kirby (1904) mentioned the epithet nematodes in two connections: Phasma (Bacte-ria) nematodes ♀ Haan, 1842 (and the combination Lonchodes nematodes ♀ Westwood) as a synonym of Phasgania crawangensis Haan, 1842 (Kirby 1904: 324) and Phasma (Bacteria) nematodes ♂ (and the combination Lonchodes nematodes ♂ auct.) as a synonym of Baculum nematodes ♂ Haan, 1842 (Kirby 1904: 328). Had he coined the epithet nematodes in 1894 or 1896, he would have mentioned that here. Nomenclaturally, “Bactricia nematodes Kby, 1894” is not an available name and, as such, is a nomen nudum (International Commis-sion on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) 1999, Glossary).Since there was no intent to describe a taxon, it seems that Bactricia nema-todes is also a nomen tantum arising from misremembering the author of the genus Bactricia as the author of a constituent species, misremembering the publication date of Kirby’s work and confusing Ramulus nematodes (de Haan) with another name. Bragg and Zompro (2007) discuss other lapsus memoriae in Günther’s publications that support this inference.IdentityThis leads to the question of Günther’s intended identification of the specimen. Günther (1957: 88) wrote, “… [die] einzige Art [von Bactricia Kby.] … auch in der vorliegenden Ausbeute aus Transvaal enthalten ist” [… the only species [of Bac-tricia Kirby] … is also included in the present sample from the Transvaal]. Since Bactricia bituberculata (Schaum, 1857) (a senior synonym of Bacteria Trophi-mus [sic] Westwood, 1859, the designated type species of Bactricia (see Brock (2004))) was the only valid species of Bactricia recognised at the time, it must be the species that he had in mind.Phasma (Bacteria) nematodes is a large-bodied, wingless Asian species with a small head ornament (Delfosse 2005) and is, therefore, superficially physi-cally similar to B. bituberculata; the two species are distinct in morphological detail and biogeography (Westwood 1859: Plate V, figs. 5, 7). Since Günther was very likely to have seen Westwood’s plate (Westwood 1859: Plate V, figs. 5, 7) that meticulously illustrates the males of both B. trophinus (= B. bituber-culata (see Brock (2004))) (Fig. 1A) and R. nematodes (Fig. 1c), it seems very unlikely that Günther intentionally referred the African specimen to de Haan’s Asian species and his identification is more consistent with a nomenclatural lapsus memoriae involving these two species’ names. Günther’s (1953) Poe-cilobactron is a similar nomen tantum, a genus-level nomenclatural chimaera arising from misremembering Thaumatobactron poecilosoma Günther, 1929 (Bragg and Zompro 2007).Finally, there is the question of the actual identity of the specimen. The LUS-SAE’s specimens are now housed in the Biological Museum, Lund University and the curator of the phasmids very kindly made excellent photographs of the specimen available (Figs 1B, 2). The specimen has four labels (Fig. 2a) con-firming its provenance on the LUSSAE and its determination as B. nematodes by Klaus Günther. Morphologically, its shape, proportions and ornamentation (Fig. 1B) are practically identical to those of the males illustrated by Westwood (1859: Plate V, fig. 5), Kirby (1896: Plate XXXIX, fig. 3; redrawn in Brock (2004)) and Brunner von Wattenwyl (1907: Tab. XV, fig. 1) and consistent with the as-4African Invertebrates 65(1): 1–7 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/AfrInvertebr.65.115507Martin H. Villet: Bactricia nematodes is a nomen nudumsociated descriptions. What little variation there is lies well within the current concept of this species and its four synonyms (Brock 2004). The large, flat, wide, curved cerci (Figs 1B, 2B) are especially diagnostic in Africa.This identification is affirmed by the locality data associated with the spec-imen: “15 miles E Graskop, 8.5. 1951 (loc. nr. 302)” (Günther 1957). In Volume 1 of the series, Brinck and Rudebeck (1955: 95) characterise Locality 302 as, “Fairly fast-running stream, at places forming pools with sandy and stony bot-tom. Shores overgrown by dense bush and tree vegetation”. The associated map (Brinck and Rudebeck 1955: Map IV) lacks geocoordinates, but overlaying it on a Google Earth Pro (http://earth.google.com) satellite image (using Preto-ria, Delagoa Bay [= Maputo] and Beitbridge as landmarks) and seeking a likely stream that intercepts a tarred road suggests that the site is near 25°S, 31°E. These details place the specimen within the distribution and typical habitat of B. bituberculata (Fig. 3).Finally, the obverse of the title page of the book containing Günther’s chapter bears its dates of copyright and printing, both 1956, but not an explicit date of pub-lication. ICZN Article 21.3 provides that in such a case the publication date “is the earliest day on which the work is demonstrated to be in existence as a published work”. Evenhuis (2011) established that the book was received in the Lund Univer-sity Library on 19 March 1957 and it is reasonable to assume that this library would have been amongst the first to obtain a copy because Lund University employed the publication’s editors and housed the specimens that Günther documented. Thus, the earliest known date when this chapter and, in particular, the description of R. rubrotaeniatus, was “obtainable” (sensu ICZN Article 8.1.2) is 19 March 1957.Figure 2. Specimen identified as Bactricia nematodes A labels B abdominal terga 9 and 10, and cerci, dorsal view. Scale bar: 1 mm. (CC BY-NC 2.0 Deed, Lund University Biological Museum: Entomology, downloaded 12 Nov 2023, original photographs and copyright licence available at http://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=127240649%40N08&text=Bac-tricia%20spp).5African Invertebrates 65(1): 1–7 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/AfrInvertebr.65.115507Martin H. Villet: Bactricia nematodes is a nomen nudumConclusionBactricia nematodes Kirby, 1894 is a nomen nudum and a nomen tantum. The specimen associated with this name (Fig. 1B) is a male of Bactricia bitubercu-lata (Schaum, 1857).AcknowledgementsI warmly thank Rune Bygebjerg (Biological Museum, Lund University, Sweden) for photographing the Lund University Expedition specimen; Janaïs Delport for graph-ics; and Paul Brock, Denis Brothers, John Midgley and Riaan Stals for valuable ad-vice and comments. Rhodes University facilitated this research logistically.Additional informationConflict of interestThe author has declared that no competing interests exist.Ethical statementNo ethical statement was reported.FundingRhodes University facilitated this research.Figure 3. Location of Locality 302, the collecting site of the LUSSAE specimen attributed to Bactricia nematodes and neighbouring occurrences of Bactricia bituberculata in eSwatini and Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Afri-ca. The dark areas are forest vegetation. ★ (white star) Type locality of Hyrtacus carinatus Kirby, 1902 (= B. bituberculatus (see Brock (2004)). Scale bar: 50 km.6African Invertebrates 65(1): 1–7 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/AfrInvertebr.65.115507Martin H. Villet: Bactricia nematodes is a nomen nudumAuthor contributionsThe author solely contributed to this work.Author ORCIDsMartin H. Villet  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4335-5667Data availabilityAll of the data that support the findings of this study are available in the main text. Goo-gle Inc. made resources publicly available through Google Search (https://www.google.com/) and Google Earth (https://earth.google.com/). Photographs of the Lund University Swedish South African Expedition specimen and its labels are available on-line at Flickr http://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=127240649%40N08&text=Bactricia%20spp.ReferencesBragg PE, Zompro O (2007) Biographies of phasmatologists - 6. Klaus Günther. Phasmid Studies 16: 25–33. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/207195Brinck P, Rudebeck G (1955) List of localities investigated by the Swedish Expedition to Southern Africa in 1950–1951. In: Hanström B, Brinck P, Rudebeck G (Eds) South African animal life. Results of the Lund University Expedition in 1950–1951. Vol. 1. Almquist and Wiksells Boktryckari AB, Goteborg, Uppsala, 62–100.Brock PD (2004) Taxonomic notes on giant southern African stick insects (Phasmida), including the description of a new Bactrododema species. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 41: 61–77. https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.10520/EJC83623Brock PD, Büscher TH, Baker E (2023) Phasmida Species File Online. Version 5.0/5.0. http://Phasmida.SpeciesFile.org [Accessed December 2, 2023]Brunner von Wattenwyl K (1907) Die Insektenfamilie der Phasmiden. II. Phasmidae Anareolatae (Clitumnini, Lonchodini, Bacunculini). Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig, 181–340[, pls. VII–XV]. https://archive.org/details/DieInsektenfamilieDerPhasmiden.Vol.Ii.PhasmidaeAnareolataeclitumniniDelfosse E (2005) Taxinomie, répartition et élevage du Phasme bâton asiatique Ramulus nematodes (de Haan, 1842) (Insecta : Phasmatodea : Phasmatidae) [Taxonomy, dis-tribution and rearing of the asiatic stick insect Ramulus nematodes (de Haan, 1842) (Insecta: Phasmatodea: Phasmatidae)]. Le bulletin d’Arthropoda 23: 29–41.Evenhuis NL (2011) [Dating of] South African Animal Life (1955–1974). http://hbs.bish-opmuseum.org/dating/safranimlife.html [Accessed February 12, 2023]Günther K (1953) Über die taxonomische Gliederung und die geographische Verbreitung der Insektenordnung der Phasmatodea. Beiträge zur Entomologie 3: 541–563[, figs 1–4]. https://doi.org/10.21248/contrib.entomol.3.5.541-563Günther K (1957) Phasmatoptera. In: Hanström B, Brinck P, Rudebeck G (Eds) South Afri-can Animal life, results of the Lund University expedition in 1950–51. Vol. 3. Almquist and Wiksells Boktryckari AB, Goteborg, Uppsala, 87–93.International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) [Eds] (1999) Internation-al code of zoological nomenclature. 4th ed. International Trust for Zoological Nomen-clature, London, 306 pp. https://www.iczn.org/the-code/the-code-online/Kirby WF (1896) VI. On some new or rare Phasmidae in the Collection of the British Museum. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 2nd Series: Zoology 6: 447–475[, Plates XXXIX, XL]. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1896.tb00546.x7African Invertebrates 65(1): 1–7 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/AfrInvertebr.65.115507Martin H. Villet: Bactricia nematodes is a nomen nudumKirby WF (1904) A synonymic catalogue of Orthoptera. Vol. I. Orthoptera Euplexoptera, Cursoria, et Gressoria. (Forficulidae, Hemimeridae, Blattidae, Mantidae, Phasmidae). Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London.Schoeman AS (1985) Order Phasmatodea (stick insects, walking sticks, leaf insects). In: Scholtz CH, Holm E (Eds) Insects of Southern Africa. Butterworths, Durban, 96–98.Westwood JO (1859) Catalogue of orthopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part I. Phasmidæ. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), Lon-don, 1–195[, Plates I–XL, 1–8]. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.65981

“Bactricia nematodes Kby., 1894” (Phasmida, Diapheromeridae, Diapheromerinae) is a nomen nudum

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“Bactricia nematodes Kby., 1894” (Phasmida, Diapheromeridae, Diapheromerinae) is a nomen nudum

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