Cases of homonymy in some Palaearctic and Nearctic taxa of the genus Sorex L. (Mammalia: Soricidae)

Abstract

Taxonomy is an integrative part of the study of organismic biodiversity. Taxonomy includes the naming of taxa and the formal administration of available taxon names proposed since Linnaeus (1758). During almost 250 years of scientific descriptions of animals a number of homonyms have been proposed. Primary homonyms were unintentionally produced by different authors in simultanous publications, sometimes in ignorance of existing literature, and sometimes caused by a long delay in the publication process (Baranova and Zaitsev 2003). Secondary homonyms were caused by subsequent combination changes of species-group names. Worldwide checklists allow the detection and avoidance of homonyms. A checklist of recent mammal taxa is currently being prepared (Wilson and Reeder 2004) and will serve as an indispensable tool in the future. While compiling the chapter on shrews, the senior author (Hutterer 1993, 2004) identified a number of homonyms which require discussion and eventually the proposal of replacement names in accordance with the rules of the ICZN (1999). Here we discuss taxa in the genus Sorex and propose substitute names for primary junior homonyms for which we found no other available and potentially valid synonym (Art. 60, ICZN 1999).