238 Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature ASTERIAS HISPIDA PENNANT, 1777, AND URASTER HISPIDA (PENNANT) FORBES, 1840 (ECHINODERMATA, ASTERIDAE): PROPOSED SUPPRESSION UNDER THE PLENARY POWERS IN FAVOUR OF LEPTASTERIAS MUELLERI (M. SARS, 1846). Z.N.(S.) 1895 By E. Brun (Tromso Museum, Norway) The pre-Linnean name hispida (Linck, 1733 : 31) was adopted by Pennant (1777 : 62, fig. 58) in his description of the nominal species Asterias hispida. Pennant's type-material cannot be traced, and his description and figure are completely inadequate for identification. Consequently, according to Forbes (1840 : 95), very different species have been referred to Pennant's hispida. Mortensen (1924 : 80) gives A. hispida Pennant as a synonym oi Leptasterias muelleri (M. Sars) without any comments, but in his widely used handbook (1927 : 141), under the discussion on Asterias rubens L., 1758, he states: " Possibly also Asterias hispida Pennant belongs rather to this species than to Leptasterias MUlleri". A. hispida Pennant is thus a case of a nomen dubium, and as it has only been used a few times in the last century it also qualifies as a nomen oblitum. It has, however, once in this century been mentioned in a fauna-list (Chumley, 1918) but such a mere listing of the name hardly con-stitutes use in "primary zoological literature" as defined in recent relevant discussion on Code Article 23b {Bull. zool. Nomencl. 23 : 258). 2. Forbes (1840 : 95-96) re-described the species he considered to conform to Pennant's species under the binomen Uraster hispida. Whereas Pennant's A. hispida is a nomen dubium, this does not apply to Uraster hispida (Pennant) Forbes. During a recent study of old and new records of echinoderms in the Isle of Man it was discovered that the only published record of Leptasterias muelleri; "under rocks round Castletown Bay" (Bruce, Colman & Jones, 1963 : 240), is exactly the same locality as mentioned by Forbes (1840 : 96) for Uraster hispida : "Among limestone rocks at Castletown, Isle of Man ". Forbes' description of U. hispida conforms with Irish Sea specimens of L. muelleri, and the British localities given fit very well with what is known today about the distribution of L. muelleri. This new evidence presents a strong case for con-sidering U. hispida (Pennant) Forbes, 1840, as a senior synonym of L. muelleri (M. Sars, 1846). The specific name hispida is still available and Forbes' re-description and use of the name clearly has priority and thus constitutes a serious threat to the well established L. muelleri. 3. Leptasterias muelleri (M. Sars) as published in the binomen Astera-canthion MUlleri was first pubUshed as a nomen nudum (M. Sars 1844 : 169), but has a good foundation in the adequate description (M. Sars 1846 : 56, pi. 8, figs. 38 and 39) and in the syntypes preserved in the Zoological Museum, Univ. Oslo, Norway. It serves as the type-species of the genus Leptasterias Verrill, 1866. The specific name muelleri (mostly spelt miilleri) has been widely used in all recent works on echinoderms. To avoid confusion and to maintain stability of nomenclature, the Inter-national Commission on Zoological Nomenclature is therefore asked: Bull. zool. Nomencl., Vol. 26, Parts 5/6. April 1970.
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