Böhme, W., W. Denzer & W. Wüster

Noli tangere nomina probata! Taxonomists must prioritise stability and protection of well-established scientific names in herpetology. pp. 395-406.

Abstract. We remind taxonomists of their rersponsibilities towards the wider zoological community and urge them to respect the Preamble of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, which explicitly ranks stability as more important than priority and relegates the latter to a subservient means to support the former. To make our case, we examine examples of previously stable genus and species nomina in herpetology: some were placed into the synonymy of older, largely unused taxon names under the strict application of the Principle of Priority, disrupting nomenclatural stability, while others escaped this fate because active measures were taken to preserve prevailing usage concept. We highlight the benefits for taxonomists, users of taxonomy and the zoological sciences more generally of seeking to minimize disruption of long-standing, widely used scientific names.

Key words. Stability, priority, zoological nomenclature, nomina oblita, nomina protecta, amphibians, reptiles, taxonomy.