A Note on the Taxonomy of Some Fossil Bees from Germany (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Abstract

Wappler and Engel (2003) recently provided an overview of the extinct bee fauna from the Eocene deposits of Messel and Eckfeld in Germany. These authors proposed five new species and one new genus. However, owing to unfortunate usage of the names in another publication on the Eckfeld insect fauna (Wappler, 2003), three of the specific epithets from the Wappler and Engel (2003) paper were taxonomically validated some months prior to their intended publication in the latter article. Although the former article is a dissertation on this insect fauna, the dissertation was presented in a format that satisfies the criteria for publication outlined by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN, 1999: Art. 8). Indeed, it appears in a University serial (Clausthaler Geowissenschaften) complete with an ISBN numeric. The three names affected were mentioned as new species, the type material referred to, and distillations of the diagnoses from Wappler and Engel (2003) included, thereby making them available in Wappler (2003) (ICZN, 1999: Arts. 11, 16). I learned of this only weeks before the appearance of the Wappler and Engel (2003) article which therefore could not be updated to reflect this taxonomic situation. The three names were therefore superfluously proposed as new again in Wappler and Engel (2003). The three names affected, with their taxonomically valid authorship and publication date, are: