Thamnasteriidae

d'Achiardi, 1866, p. 11

Thamnasteriidae d'Achiardi, 1866, p. 11 is a junior homonym (unavailable).

The senior homonym (Thamnasteriidae Reuss, 1864) is invalid, and, therefore, cannot be applied (see discussion below and under Thamnasteriidae Reuss, 1864). The junior homonym (Thamnasteriidae d'Achiardi, 1866) should be replaced by the family Corbariastraeidae Beauvais, 1982.

Comparisons

Since the publication of the Treatise by Vaughan and Wells (1943, p. 128), the authorship of the family Thamnasteriidae has been given to these authors by the vast majority of the workers interested in this group. However, this family had already been created in several earlier works. Reuss (1864, p. 23) used the term Thamnastraeidae. Later, d'Achiardi (1866, p. 11), Stoliczka (1873, p. 41), Becker, in Becker and Milaschewitsch (1875, p. 168), and Ogilvie (1896, p. 189) used the family-groups of Thamnastraeidae or Thamnastraeinae, respectively. Frech (1890, p. 59) created the “new subfamily” Thamnasterinae using the characteristics of Thamnasteria and Dimorphastrea d’Orbigny. Ortmann (1887, p. 184) introduced the "Familie Thamnastraeidae", without making any reference to any of the earlier works. Later, Koby (1889) also created the family Thamnastraeidae, which, however, was rejected by Vaughan and Wells (1943) based on reasons explained in Vaughan (1900, p. 161) who had already pointed out that Koby based his family on the species Thamnastraea arachnoides but not on the type species Th. dendroidea.

Remarks

Reuss (1864, 23) used the term Thamnastraeidae, based on a concept by Milne Edwards (1860) that combined characteristics of “forms of Thamnasteria and various Astreids”, and, in addition, referred to the nominate taxon as “Thamnastraea Milne Edwards and Haime”. Therefore, Reuss’ family is invalid. Because d'Achiardi (1866, p. 11) was the first who used the “Family---Thamnastreidae”, clearly referring to “Thamnastrea Lesauvage, 1823” as the nominate taxon, he has priority of authorship. (Also, see remarks under Thamnasteriidae Reuss, 1864)

This page has been in preparation since 12-Nov-2015 19:14

This version was contributed by Rosemarie Baron-Szabo on 04-Feb-2018 18:30.

Page authors are: Rosemarie Baron-Szabo. Please contact the editor if you would like to contribute to the diagnosis of this taxon.

The editor is: Rosemarie Baron-Szabo