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Title: CYATHOSTOMUM MOLIN, 1861 (NEMATODA, STRONGYLOIDEA): PROPOSED DESIGNATION OFC. TETRACANTHUM (MEHLIS, 1831) MOLIN, 1861 IN PART LOOSS, 1900 AS THE TYPE SPECIES OF THE GENUS

Author
item GIBBONS, L - UNIV LONDON, UK
item Lichtenfels, James

Submitted to: The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/31/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Strongyloid nematodes are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in equines in the United States. Resistance to antiparasitic drugs (currently the only means of controlling the nematode disease in horses) is common and alternative control methods for these parasites are needed to protect horses in the United States. Considerable research is underway worldwide to develop improved control strategies. This research requires the identification of the more than 51 nematode species that are parasitic in the large intestine and caecum of horses. This report provides information to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and the scientific community on reasons for recognizing existing names for 2 key species of nematodes parasitic in horses, in order to avoid confusion that would result from changing the names of 3 species as proposed by a researcher who discovered errors in a type series of specimens. The results will be used by researchers worldwide working to control these economically important nematodes, especially those in the pharmaceutical industry.

Technical Abstract: The nomenclature of Cyathostomum tetracanthum has been controver- sial for more than 166 years. Various attempts to stabilize the nomenclature of this species and the more than 51 closely related species of the Cyathostominea have had considerable hard-won success. Recently, however, a revision of the nomenclature of the tribe, based in part on the discovery of the original types of c. tetracanthus, threatened to cause confusion among well-established species in the genus. Accordingly, an international group of taxonomists have petitioned the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to validate, in the interests of stability, the nomenclature of C. tetracanthum and the related species C. catinatum that was commonly recognized prior to the recent discovery of the original types.