58 Bull. zool. Norn., vol. 43, pt 1, April 1986 DRYOPHTHORUS GEKMKK, 1824 (INSECTA, COLEOPTERA): PROPOSED CONSERVATION BY THE SUPPRESSION OF BULBIFER DEJEAN, 1821. Z.N.(S.)2486 By Charles W. O'Brien {Department of Entomology, Florida A & M University, Tallahassee , Florida 32307, U.S.A.) and Giuseppe Osella {Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Lungadige Porta Vittoria 9, 37100 Verona, Italy) In this application it is proposed that the generally used generic name Dryophthorus Germar, 1824, in the family curculionidae, be preserved by the suppression of its unused senior synonym Bulbifer Dejean ex Megerle MS, 1821. We wish to thank Dr M. A. Alonso Zarazaga for bringing this nomenclatural problem to our attention. 2. The genus Bulbifer was established by Dejean ex Megerle MS, 1821, p. 99, by inclusion of a single species, Curculio lymexylon Fabricius, 1792, p. 420, type species by monotypy. In subsequent years Dejean, 1835, p. 305 and 1837, p. 330, Schoenherr, 1826, p. 332 and 1838, p. 1088 and Lacordaire, 1866, p. 322, treated Bulbifer as a synonym of Dryophthorus. Lacordaire attributed Dryophthorus to Schoenherr while the others listed Schiippel or Schiippel & Germar as author(s) without a bibliographic refer-ence. It was common practice in the late 1700s and early 1800s to cite, as author of a name, individuals who had reported names 'in litter is' or even in collections; e.g. Dejean, 1821, cited Megerle as the author of Bulbifer, although the name had not been published previously. Only Silfverberg, 1984, has used the name Bulbifer as a valid name since Dejean, 1821. 3. Germar, 1824, p. 302, established the genus Dryophthorus with a brief diagnosis and also included a single species, 'Curculio Lymexylon Auctor.', which at that time was lymexylon Fabricius, type species by monotypy. 4. Schoenherr, 1825, column 588, listed the genus Dryophthorus with 'Typus: Cossonus Lymexylon Gyllenh. — Lixus idem Fabr.\ Schoenherr, 1826, p. 333, cited as type Lixus lymexylon Fabricius. 5. The valid name for the type species of Bulbifer and Dryophthorus is Curculio corticalis Paykull, 1792, p. 41, a senior subjective synonym of lymexylon Fabricius, as first reported in footnote 2 by Bedel, 1885, p. 192. 6. Bulbifer and Dryophthorus are objective synonyms and through application of the Principle of Priority, Bulbifer should take precedence. However, Bulbifer has not been used as a valid generic name, except by Silfverberg, 1984, for more than a century and a half, and Dryophthorus has been in universal use, e.g. by Schoenherr, 1838; Lacordaire, 1866; WoUaston, 1873; LeConte & Horn, 1876; Bedel, 1885; Champion, 1909;
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