Botanical nomenclatural query

[Curtis Clark]

At 08:02 AM 3/29/02, Thomas Lammers wrote:
>Names have priority only in their rank.  Priority does not extend to other
>ranks.  This taxon had no name available at specific rank.  So there was no
>impediment to creating a totally new epithet at species rank.  In fact
>sometimes, it MUST be done, as the varietal epithet is preoccupied at
>specific rank.  The names are homotypic (nomenclatural) synonyms of each
>other.

I couldn't have said it better myself. The "nom. et stat. nov." is a red
herring. The name is indeed new, and one could make the case that the
status is new, since the type did not previously apply to a species name.


--
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
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