Table Of Content© Zoological Institute, St.Petersburg, 2003
Names established by C.S. Rafinesque (1815) in Heteroptera
I.M. Kerzhner & J.T. Polhemus
Kerzhner, I.M. & Polhemus, J.T. 2003. Names established by C.S. Rafinesque (1815) in
Heteroptera. Zoosystematica Rossica, 11(2), 2002: 323-325.
The text on Heteroptera from the poorly known publication by Rafinesque (1815) is
reproduced. The family-group and genus-group names of Heteroptera in this work are
examined, and their nomenclatural status is discussed.
I.M. Kerzhner, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab.
1, St.Petersburg 199034, Russia. E-mail: [email protected]
J.T. Polhemus, 3115 South York, Englewood, Colorado 80110, USA. E-mail:
[email protected]
C.S. Rafinesque or Rafinesque-Schmaltz (1783- 3.S.F. TINGIDIA. Les Tingidiens. Antennes à
1840) is known by his taxonomic publications 4 articles, le premier article des tarses le plus petit.
in various groups of animals and plants, both G. 28. Phymata Latr. 29. Systis Fabr. 30. Tingis
from Europe (mainly Sicily) and the USA. In Fabr. 31. Aradus Fabr. 32. Macrocephalus Swed.
1815 he published a pamphlet containing a re- 33. Amathusa R. Acanthia Latr. 34. Leptopus
view of the generic and suprageneric classifica- Latr.
tion of all plants and animals, with many new 29. Famille. ZOADELGIA. Les Zoadelges.
names (Rafinesque, 1815). The work is extreme- Tarses à trois articles, le premier les plus petit,
ly rare, it is known to us from a photostat copy pattes non propres à nager, antennes découvertes,
in the library of the Natural History Museum, sétacées couchées plus longues de la tête, bec
London (formerly British Museum of Natural arque.
History). The text on Heteroptera is reproduced 1.S. F. CIMEXIA. Les Cimexiens. Corps non
below. [p. 120] filiforme ni linéaire ordinairement
arrondi. G. 1. Cimex L. Latr. 2. Nabis Latr. 3.
[p. 119] “V. O. HEMIPTERIA. Les Hémiptères. Reduvius Fabr. 4. Aulonus R. sp. do. 5. Petalo-
1. Sous-Ordre. STYRELYTRA. Les Styre- chirus Palissot.
lytres. Elytres croisses, ordinairement coriaces 2. S. F. ZELESIA. Les Zélésiens. Corps fili-
ou epaisses, bec naissant du front. forme, ou linéaire. G. 6. Zelesus R. Zelus Fabr. 7.
28. Famille. PHYTADELGIA. Les Phytadelg- Ploioaria Scop.
es. Tarses à trois articles, pattes non propres à 30. Famille. HYDRODELGIA. Les Hydro-
nager, antennes découvertes, droites, claviformes delges. Tarses à un ou deux articles, pattes or-
ou filiformes, bec droit. dinairement propres à nager, antennes or-
1. S. F. TETYRIDIA. Les Tétyrides. Antennes dinairement cachées et plus courtes de la tête.
à 5 articles. G. 1. Tetyris Fabr. 2. Thyreocoris 1.S. F. PLOTERIDIA. Les Plotériens. Anten-
Schrank. 3. Scutellera Lam. 4. Alcinoe R. sp. do. nes plus longues que la tête et saillantes. G. 1.
5 .Canopus Fabr. 6. Pentatoma Ol. 7. Aeliana R. Hydrometra Latr. 2. Gerrys Latr. 3. Ploteris R.
Aelia Fabr. 8. Edessa Fabr. 9. Halysius R. Halis Velia Latr.
Fabr. 10. Cydnus Fabr. 2.S. F. HYDRORIDIA. Les Hydroridées. An-
2.S. F. CORIDIA. Les Coridiens. Antennes à 4 tennes cachées plus courtes que la tête. G. 4.
articles, le second article des tarses le plus petit. G. Pelogonus Latr. 5. Galgulus Fabr. 6. Belostoma
11.Coridus R. Coreus Fabr. 12. Coriscus Schrank Latr. 7. Naucoris Geof. 8. Neparia R. Nepa L. 9.
sp. do. 13. Alydus Fabr. 14. Polyxoa R. sp. do. 15. Ranatra Fabr. 10. Notonecta L. 11. Corixa Geof.
Leides Latr. Berysus Fabr. 16. Lyginus R. Lygeus Sigara Fabr.”
Fabr. 17. Pandareus R. sp. do. 18. Psaphonus R.
sp. do. 19. Tharops R. sp. do. 20. Saldarius R. sp.
Rafinesque’s work contains six available fam-
do. 21. Capsocerus R. Capsus Fabr. 22. Pachycerus
ily-group names in Heteroptera, all of them used
R. sp. do. 23. Myrisus R. Myris Fabr. 24. Pyrechnus
by him for subfamilies (HYDRORIDIA is una-
R. sp. do. 25. Phryxus R. sp. do. 26. Myodocha
vailable as it is not based on a generic name):
Latr. 27. Podicerus Dum.
324 I.M.Kerzhner&J.T.Polhemus: Heteropteran names by Rafinesque(cid:127)ZOOSYST. ROSSICA Vol. 11
TETYRIDIA Rafinesque, 1815 (type genus 1815 of Aelia Fabricius, 1803, Halysius Rafi-
Tetyra F., misspelt as Tetyris) is of the same year nesque, 1815 of Halys Fabricius, 1803 (misspel-
as SCUTELLERIDAE Leach, 1815 and earlier led by Rafinesque as Halis), Coridus Rafinesque,
than PACHYCORINAE Amyot & Serville, 1843 1815 of Coreus Fabricius, 1794, Lyginus
and its synonym TETYRINAE Amyot & Servil- Rafinesque, 1815 of Lygaeus Fabricius, 1794
le, 1843; (misspelled as Lygeus), Capsocerus Rafinesque,
CORIDIA Rafinesque, 1815 (type genus Cori- 1815 of Capsus Fabricius, 1803, Myrisus Rafi-
dus Raf. = Coreus F.) is of the same year as nesque, 1815 of Miris Fabricius, 1794 (misspel-
COREIDAE Leach, 1815; led as Myris), Amathusa Rafinesque, 1815 of
TINGIDIA Rafinesque, 1815 (type genus Acanthia Fabricius, 1775 (as “Acanthia Latr.”;
Tingis F.) is earlier than TINGIDAE Laporte, see further discussion), Zelesus Rafinesque, 1815
1832 (or Westwood, 1840, or Costa, 1843); of Zelus Fabricius, 1803, Ploteris Rafinesque,
CIMEXIA Rafinesque, 1815 (type genus Ci- 1815 of Velia Latreille, 1804, and Neparia Rafi-
mex L.) is already placed in the Official Index of nesque, 1815 of Nepa Linnaeus, 1758.
Rejected and Invalid Family Names in Zoology The generic names by Rafinesque were mostly
as incorrect subsequent spelling of CIMICIDAE overlooked in the heteropterological literature,
Latreille, 1804; and only some of them were mentioned as jun-
ZELESIA Rafinesque, 1815 (type genus Ze- ior synonyms in catalogues in the second half of
lesus Raf. = Zelus F.) is earlier than HARPACTO- the 20th century. Of these names, only Amathusa
RINAE Amyot & Serville, 1843 and its syno- deserves a discussion. As Rafinesque gave no
nym ZELINAE Amyot & Serville, 1843; explanation for the authorship used by him, it
PLOTERIDIA Rafinesque, 1815 (type genus may be argued that Amathusa is a junior syno-
Ploteris Raf. = Velia Latr.) is earlier than VELI- nym of Acanthia Fabricius, which in turn is a
IDAE Brullé, 1836. junior synonym of Cimex Linnaeus, 1758. On
The family-group names established by Ra- the other hand, it may be speculated that the in-
finesque were never used later. If they will be dication of Latreille instead of Fabricius by
accepted, this will lead to the change of three Rafinesque was intentional and Amathusa should
names (TETYRINAE instead of PACHY- be considered a replacement name for Acanthia
CORINAE, ZELEZINAE instead of HARPAC- sensu Latreille (for which Latreille (1810) des-
TORINAE, and PLOTERIDIDAE instead of ignated Cimex saltatoria Linnaeus, 1758 as type
VELIIDAE) and of the accepted authorship of species), and, hence, a senior synonym of Saldula
one name (TINGIDAE). It is clear that the dis- Van Duzee, 1914. This opinion is supported by
cussed Rafinesque’s names should be referred the fact that Rafinesque indicated as author
to the Commission for suppression, and the au- Latreille instead of Fabricius for two genera,
thors are working on such a proposal. Fortu- Acanthia and Gerris (misspelled as Gerrys); both
nately, Leach (1815) was published in April and were used by Latreille (1796) in a restricted
Rafinesque (1815) between April and July 15 sense, for saldids and water striders, respectively
(Thompson et al., 1999), and thus, the Leach’s (Fabricius used the both names for a mixture of
names SCUTELLERIDAE and COREIDAE species belonging to unrelated families). We do
have priority. not consider that the latter treatment obligato-
Most generic names in Rafinesque (1815) are rily follows from the Code, but in the event that
those established earlier by other authors, some somebody will accept it, we reject Amathusa
of them cited by him using incorrect spelling under provisions of Art. 23.9.2: Amathusa was
(Leides for Neides, Berysus for Berytus, Systis never used as a valid name, whereas Saldula was
for Syrtis, etc.). The new names are marked with used in numerous works (much more than the
“R.” Ten of them are unavailable because they required 25 works by 10 authors) in the last 50
are not provided with description or indication years (see Schuh et al., 1987 for references).
(Alcinoe, Polyxoa, Pandareus, Psaphonus, Tha-
rops, Saldarius, Pachycerus, Parechnus, Phryx- References
us, and Aulonus).
Only ten of Rafinesque’s generic names are Latreille, P.A. 1796. Précis des caractères génériques
available, because they are provided with a cita- des Insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel. Bor-
deaux. 14 + 210 + 5 p.
tion of an earlier available name in synonymy.
Latreille, P.A. 1810. Considérations générales sur l’ordre
Sherborn (1922-1933) and Neave (1939-1940) naturel des animaux composant les classes des
considers these names as emendations, but they crustacés, des arachnides, et des insectes; avec un
are rather unnecessary new replacement names, tableau méthodique de leurs genres, disposés en
as their spellings considerably differ from those familles. Paris: Schoell. 444 p.
Leach, W.E. 1815. Entomology. In: Brewster, D. (Ed.).
of the replaced names. All of the 10 names are
Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, 9(1): 57-172. Edinburgh:
junior objective synonyms: Aeliana Rafinesque, Blackwood.
ZOOSYST. ROSSICA Vol. 11(cid:127)I.M.Kerzhner&J.T.Polhemus: Heteropteran names by Rafinesque 325
Neave, S.A. 1939-1940. Nomenclator Zoologicus. 4 vols. Sherborn, C.D. 1922-1933. Index animalium 1801-1850.
London: Zool. Soc. of London. London: Brit. Mus. cxlvii + 7056 + 1098 p.
Rafinesque, C.S. 1815. Analyse de la nature ou tableau Thompson, F.Ch., Evenhuis, N.L. & Sabrosky, C.W.
de l’univers et des corps organisés. Palerme: aux 1999. Bibliography of the family-group names of
depens de l’Auteur. 224 p. Diptera. Myia, 10: 361-574.
Schuh, R.T., Galil, B. & Polhemus, J.T. 1987. Catalog
and bibliography of Leptopodomorpha (Heteroptera).
Bull. Amer. Mus. natur. Hist., 185(3): 243-406. Received 20 January 2003
