Sphyrapus Norman 1882

Genus Sphyrapus Norman, 1882

Remarks. There has been historic confusion over the authority for this genus (e.g. Sieg, 1983: 108–109; Guţu, 1980: 393; Larsen, 2005: 77), but, as Sars (1882: 18) clearly designates it as “ Sphyrapus Norman M.S. ” (“M.S.” meaning “manuscript”, not the initials of Alfred Merle Norman), then under Article 50.1.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), the authority is Norman, 1882 (or “Norman in Sieg, 1882”).

Conversely, while Sars (ibid.) listed four named species (including “ Sphyrapus malleolus Norman M.S. ” and “ Sphyrapus tudes Norman M.S. ”: Sars 1882, p. 20), he did not designate a type-species. As Sars’ publications of S. malleolus and S. tudes did not meet the criteria of Article 12 of the ICZN, each of the names as used in the 1882 publication becomes a nomen nudum. Norman & Stebbing (1886) described S. malleolus (and S. tudes), and designated it validly as the type-species, as it meets the requirements of Articles 67.2.1 and 69.1 of the ICZN, and then conforms with Articles 12 and 50. The type-species of Sphyrapus is thus Sphyrapus malleolus Norman & Stebbing, 1886; the authority for Sphyrapus tudes is also Norman & Stebbing, 1886.

Fortuitously, Guţu (1980; 2001) was correct, when splitting Pseudosphyrapus and Ansphyrapus (respectively) from Sphyrapus, in leaving S. malleolus (only) in Sphyrapus.