[Syrphidae] Episyrphus balteatus synonymous - Am I right ?

christian thompson cthompson at sel.barc.usda.gov
Fri Sep 23 10:37:09 BST 2005


Yes, except for technical terms

In common English, "name" and "synonym" etc. mean different things from
the use of "name" and "synonym" in Zoological Nomenclature.

So, all the below are different "names" in English, but all the same
"name," but different combinations in Zoological Nomenclature.

Musca balteata De Geer
Syrphus balteatus (De Geer) Fabricius
Epistrophe balteata (De Geer)
Episyrphus balteatus (De Geer) Matsumura

are all the same species, merely placed by different workers into
different genera (or nomenclaturally all are just different
COMBINATIONs, and reflect different opinions about generic
classification). They all have the same type specimen.

Episyrphus cretensis (Becker) is however a different species-group
name, has a different type specimen, but is considered by most workers
today to be a SYNONYM of balteatus. 

So, the species taxon, Episyrphus balteatus, has a number of names when
its published literature is indexed. Some are synonyms (17 in all) and
many different combinations of those names.

Oh, well ... Yes, it is Friday in Washington.

F. Christian Thompson
Systematic Entomology Lab., USDA
c/o Smithsonian Institution
MRC-0169 NHB
PO Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012
(202) 382-1800 voice
(202) 786-9422 FAX
cthompso at sel.barc.usda.gov e-mail
www.diptera.org  web site

>>> arnaud.l at fsagx.ac.be 09/23/05 07:45AM >>>
Hi all,

Being new with syrphid world, I encountered some troubles with
"Episyrphus 
balteatus". Are "Syrphus balteatus", "Episyrphus cretensis",
"Episyrphus 
balteatus", "Epistrophe balteata" all refering to the same species,
i.e. 
Episyrphus balteatus ? Or do some of them species are distinct species
?

Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards, Ludovic


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