The amsterdam declaration on fungal nomenclature.

David L Hawksworth,Ulf Thrane,Keith A Seifert,Tom Gräfenhan,Ahmet Asan,Jos Houbraken,Marizeth Groenewald,Bernard Slippers,Ursula Eberhardt,Walter Buzina,Lei Cai,Constantino Ruibal,Stephen W Peterson,Z Wilhelm De Beer,Xingzhong Liu,Andrey Yurkov,Alev Haliki Uztan,Ning Zhang,Catherine Aime,Cletus P Kurtzman,Johan Schnürer,Masako Takashima,Wieland Meyer,Dominik Begerow,Sabine M Huhndorf,Eveline Guého-Kellermann,Don R Reynolds,Scott A Redhead,Aida Vasco,János Varga,Paul S Dyer,József Geml,David S Hibbett,Teun Boekhout,Derya Berikten,Chirlei Glienke,Bevan S Weir,Michael J Wingfield,Urmas Kõljalg,Peter R Johnston,Paul M Kirk,Rasime Öziç,David M Geiser,Robert A Samson,Ronald P De Vries,John W Taylor,Ulrike Damm,Marco Thines,Mohammad Javad Najafzadeh,Pedro W Crous,Jack W Fell,Kevin D Hyde,Seung Beom Hong ,H Spierenburg ,Anne D Van Diepeningen ,S.i.r Videira ,Vincent Robert ,Liang Guo ,R G Shivas ,Heide Marie Daniel ,P F Cannon ,G.j.m Verkley ,Özlem Abacı ,Céline Lévesque ,M Van Raak ,J De Gruyter ,Olga Vinnere Pettersson ,Jens Christian Frisvad ,Evrim Taşkın ,J.z Groenewald ,Lorelei L Norvell ,W Quaedvlieg ,Peter Buchanan ,Paul Emile Lagneau ,Ahmed Mahmoud Ismail ,Neriman Yılmaz ,G.s De Hoog ,Feng Yan Bai ,Irina S Druzhinina ,J L Crane ,S M Ozerskaya ,Duygu Göksay Kadaifçiler ,Treena I Burgess ,D W Minter ,S R Pennycook ,L Lombard ,Andrew N Miller ,Hans Josef Schroers

doi:10.5598/imafungus.2011.02.01.14

Abstract

The Amsterdam Declaration on Fungal Nomenclature was agreed at an international symposium convened in Amsterdam on 19-20 April 2011 under the auspices of the International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF). The purpose of the symposium was to address the issue of whether or how the current system of naming pleomorphic fungi should be maintained or changed now that molecular data are routinely available. The issue is urgent as mycologists currently follow different practices, and no consensus was achieved by a Special Committee appointed in 2005 by the International Botanical Congress to advise on the problem. The Declaration recognizes the need for an orderly transitition to a single-name nomenclatural system for all fungi, and to provide mechanisms to protect names that otherwise then become endangered. That is, meaning that priority should be given to the first described name, except where that is a younger name in general use when the first author to select a name of a pleomorphic monophyletic genus is to be followed, and suggests controversial cases are referred to a body, such as the ICTF, which will report to the Committee for Fungi. If appropriate, the ICTF could be mandated to promote the implementation of the Declaration. In addition, but not forming part of the Declaration, are reports of discussions held during the symposium on the governance of the nomenclature of fungi, and the naming of fungi known only from an environmental nucleic acid sequence in particular. Possible amendments to the Draft BioCode (2011) to allow for the needs of mycologists are suggested for further consideration, and a possible example of how a fungus only known from the environment might be described is presented.

Highlights

The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) and its predecessors1 have regulated the nomenclature of fungi since 1867
Recognizing the desire of mycologists to progress to a system of adopting one name for each fungal species expressed at the 9th International Mycological Congress in 2010, noting the proposals so far made to that end, and considering the urgent need for mycologists to have immediate guidance on this matter, as articulated following the “One Fungus = One Name” symposium held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on 19-20 April 2011, which was convened under the auspices of the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF), we, authors of this paper recommend the following steps for the orderly transition towards a single-name nomenclatural system for all fungi
As in the ICBN (2006) and the Draft BioCode (2011): (a) legitimately and validly published names of monomorphic fungi, whether anamorph-typified or teleomorph-typified, can be transferred to any other legitimately and validly published generic name and remain nomenclaturally legitimate and valid; that (b) it is possible under the BioCode to epitypify names with an anamorphic type by material exhibiting the teleomorph; and that (c) if, in the opinion of mycologists, a poor choice is made for the name to represent a pleomorphic fungus previously bearing more than one name, the option remains to submit a case to overturn the choice to the appropriately mandated international body