(2915) Proposal to conserve the name Ficoxylon against Ungerites (fossil Moraceae, Magnoliopsida)

Abstract

(2915) Ficoxylon Kaiser in Z. Gesammten Naturwiss. (Halle) 53: 315. 1880, nom. cons. prop. Typus: F. bohemicum Kaiser, nom. illeg. (F. tropicum (Schleid.) Felix, Ungerites tropicus Schleid.). (≡) Ungerites Schleid. in Schmid & Schleiden, Natur Kieselhölz.: 37. 12–13 Jun 1855, nom. rej. prop. The fossil-genus Ficoxylon Kaiser (in Z. Gesammten Naturwiss. (Halle) 53: 315. 1880) is one of the most widely distributed and well-known fossil wood genera of modern palaeobotany (cf. El-Noamani in Egypt. J. Bot. 62: 35. 2022). It comprises about 10 fossil-species, ranging in the Tertiary, from the Palaeocene to the Pliocene (The International Fossil Plant Names Index [IFPNI], http://ifpni.org). However, the generic name Ficoxylon was published as the result of the inadmissible renaming of the previously validly published monotypic fossil-genus Ungerites Schleid. (in Schmid & Schleiden, Natur Kieselhölz.: 37. 1855), based on fossil woods from Oligocene sediments of former Bohemia (Kostenblatt), now known as Kostomlaty pod Milešovkou, Ústecký kraj, Czech Republic. Schleiden (l.c.) gave a detailed description of the wood remains, and compared them with doubt to extant wood of Fabaceae. Kaiser (l.c.) re-described these fossil woods and came to the conclusion that they should be likened to the wood of the extant species Ficus L. (Sp. Pl.: 1059. 1753), and consequently changed the fossil-generic name to emphasize the putative relationships with an extant taxon. Needless to say that such a renaming of the fossil-generic name, along with the renaming of the fossil-species epithet (from U. tropicus Schleid. to F. bohemicum Kaiser), are both inadmissible in terms of botanical nomenclature. Ficoxylon is thus an illegitimate fossil-generic name including the type of the previously validly published fossil-generic name, Ungerites. Nevertheless, the illegitimate fossil-generic name Ficoxylon occurs widely in palaeobotany and stands solidly in current use (Schenk in Palaeontographica 30: 14. 1883; Platen, Unters. Foss. Hölz.: 51. 1907; Kräusel in Abh. Bayer. Akad. Wiss., Math.-Naturwiss. Abt., n.s., 47: 31. 1940; Boureau in Bull. Serv. Géol. Indochine 29(1): 28. 1950, Anat. Vég. 3: 676. 1957; Němejc, Paleobotanika 4: 382. 1975; Prasad in Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 76: 77. 1993; Licht in Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 202: 32. 2014; El-Noamani, l.c.), and the earlier generic name Ungerites has fallen into oblivion. In this connection, the conservation of the illegitimate fossil-generic name Ficoxylon against the forgotten Ungerites is proposed to legitimize established custom. Following the opinion of Felix (in Z. Deutsch. Geol. Ges. 35: 81. 1883), I also cannot see any sound arguments to preserve by means of conservation the illegitimate species name F. bohemicum, and I agree with Felix that the original species epithet ‘tropicus’ be kept in use as F. tropicum (Schleid.) Felix, based on U. tropicus Schleich. In order to conform to TL-2 bibliographical standard of precise citation and to fill the gap in the publication records in TL-2, the date of publication of Schmid & Schleiden's Ueber die Natur der Kieselhölzer book in 1855 was obtained from the daily records of all newly published books in the former German states as listed in the Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel for 15 June 1855 (no. 78, p. 1030. 1855) received in Leipzig on 12–13 June 1855. ABD, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0089-5919 I thank John McNeill for very helpful suggestions and valuable comments on the initial draft. It is a pleasure to thank Mrs Valentina Bublik (Fundamental Botanical Library of the National Institute of Carpology, Moscow) for bibliographic searches of the publication dates of botanical literature. The research is a contribution to the Palaeoflora Europaea Project, Palaeoflora of Russia (Palaeoflora Rossica) Project (NOM-22-003) and The International Fossil Plant Names Index (IFPNI, http://ifpni.org/).