Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 273 PROPOSAL TO REPEAL THE RULING GIVEN IN OPINION 47 AND TO USE THE PLENARY POWERS TO STABILIZE THE GENERIC NAMES CARCHARHINUS BLAINVILLE, 1816, CARCHARODON A SMITH 1838, AND 0D0NTASPI8 J. L. R. AGASSIZ, 1838, IN THEIR ACCUS-TOMED SENSES (CLASS PISCES). Z.N.(S.) 920 By E. I. White, Denys W. Tucker and N. B. Marshall The " Summary " of Opinion 47 (Smithson. Inst. Publ. 2060, February 1912 : 108-109) states simply that " Carcharias Rafinesque, 1810, is monotypic, type Carcharias taurus Rafinesque ". Apart from the date of the generic name' the statement is true. The " Statement of Case ", however, contains an error of fact, while the impHcation of the ruHng, that Carcharias is to be used as the vahd name for the largest genus, taxonomicaUy speaking, of fossil sharks, knowTi for over 120 years as Odontaspis J. L. R. Agassiz, 1838, has been Ignored. The names of two other genera are also involved, namely, those known respectively as Carcharhinus Blainville, 1816 (the largest genus, taxonomicaUy speaking, of hving sharks) and as Carcharodon A. Smith, 1838 (the man-eating shark). 2. In 1809, Rafinesque {Caratt. ale. n. gen. e n. spec, d'animali e piante Mia Sicilia : 10) estabhshed a new genus Carcharias, mth Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, 1809 {ibid.) as the type-species, by monotypy. (The date of this work is usually given as 1810, but Fitzpatrick, 1911, Rafinesque, Life with Bibliography, has shown that pp. 1-69 were pubhshed in 1809, and pp. 71-105 in 1810.) In 1810 (Indice Ittiol. Sicilia : 44), Rafinesque referred three species to the genus, namely, C. taurus, C. lamia and C. glaucus. The specific name lamia was proposed to replace carcharias Linnaeus, 1758 (Squalus) {Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1 : 235), apparently to avoid tautonymy, but it is clear that it is mvahd as a junior objective synonym, and that Rafinesque should have used the binomen Carcharias carcharias (Linnaeus, 1758). In the case of the third species, Rafinesque merely transferred Squalus glaucus Linnaeus, 1758 to Carcharias. 3. Squalus carcharias Linnaeus, 1758, is a composite species, for it combines the characters of the two species now known as Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus, 1758) and as Carcharhinus longimanus (Poey, 1861) respectively. Current usage of these two names is now weU estabhshed, but Rafinesque used Carcharias lamia (a junior objective synonym of Linnaeus's name) in the ktter sense in his later works, as also did Cuvier (1817, Regne anim. 2 : 125), Risso (1826, Hist. nat. Eur. merid. 3 : 119), and MiiUer & Henle ([1839], Syst. Plagiost. : 37). Squalus (Carcharias) longimanus Poey, 1861 {Mem. Hist. nat. Cuba 2 : 338) was made the type-species, by original designation, of a new genus Pterolamia S. Springer, 1950 {Amer. Mus. Nov. 1451 : 7), but this name was found to be a junior homon3an of Pterolamia Breuning, 1942, and was accordingly replaced by Pterolamiops S. Springer, 1951 {Copeia 1951 (3); 244). There is no confusion over the interpretation of this name, but with regard to Squalus carcharias Linnaeus, 1758, we propose that the description given by BuU. zool. Nomencl., Vol. 18, Part 4. August 1961. ~
Proposal to repeal the ruling given in Opinion 47 and to use the plenary powers to stabilize the generic names Carcharhinus Blainville, 1816, CarcharodonA. Smith, 1838, and Odontaspis J. L. R. Agassiz, 1838, in their accustomed senses.(Class Pisces) Z.N
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