Re: Dwarf Cichlid question

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@fgn.net>]

The determination of whether Micro- or Mikro- geophagus will be the genus for
the Rams [both M. ramerezi & M. altispinossus (note the masculine 'us' suffix,
not 'a')] is pending the decision of the International Commission on Zoological
Nomenclature. We are still waiting for an answer from them. Actually, even
Papiliochromis could be thrown into the mess, since the ICZN can choose
whichever name that they feel will be best from a zoologist's perspective. It
depends on what they think is most important: name priority, name recognition,
or best scientific description. The oldest know name is from a 1968 Danish
aquarium book that used 'Mikro'. 'Micro' was used in another (1971) aquarium
book that was much more widely distributed. Papiliochromis undoubtedly is the
only name that comes with a decent scientific description - other than the
original Apistogramma, which these fish definitely are not.

As for misspellings (like using a 'k' instead of 'c'), they have no effect on
the validity of a scientific name. As long as the name conforms to the ICZN
code, even an incorrect spelling is accepted. Otherwise we would have to change:
A. commbrae to A. corumbae, A. mendezi to A. mendesi, A. atahualpa to A.
atahualpai, & A. panduro to A. pandurorum.

Hope this clarifies some of this mess.

Mike Wise

Mike Wise

PuraVida wrote:

> As I have seen in my books, the right name for both is Mikrogeophagus with k
> not c ramirezi and altispinosa.
>
> (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (Myers & Harry, 1948)
> (Mikrogeophagus Meulengracht-Madsen, 1968, a senior synonym
> of
> Papiliochromis Kullander, 1977 (Teleostei: Cichlidae))
>
> Ernst
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chris Jewell" <chris@jewell68.freeserve.co.uk>
> To: <apisto@listbox.com>
> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2002 9:23 PM
> Subject: Re: Dwarf Cichlid question
>
> > I work on the latin names Microgeophagus Ramirezi and Papiliochromis
> > altispinosa which was up to date from what I've recently been told. If
> > anyone has a definative version of what we should call the Bolivian ram I
> > think it would clear up a lot of confusion, both past and present.
> >
> > Chris
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