Home > Phylum selection > Arthropoda > Diptera > Empididae
Home How to cite this site Terms & conditions Disclaimer Contact Site tutorial / Help Links	Empis bicuspidata Subspecies Original description Synonyms Empis fuscipes Gmelin, 1790 (nec Fabricius, 1794; nec Brullé, 1832) (nomen oblitum; nomen dubium; unclear synonym) Empis pennaria bicuspidata Collin, 1927 Empis bicuspidata (Collin, 1927) Note on the taxonomical history of the name Empis fuscipes: During his lifetime Nathaniel Gottfried Leske (1751-1786) gathered a large collection of natural objects, mainly stones and minerals, but also animals. Today largely forgotten, Leske was a well-known scientist at his time and his collection was the then famous "Museum Leskeanum" and was frequented by numerous scientists. When Leske was appointed as a professor in Marburg (Germany) he mailed his collection to the university. Later, when he travelled to his new post, his coach had an accident and he died several days after. Curators at the Marburg university, who already had the opportunity to see the Leske collection that was sent to them, now tried to convince Landgraf (landgrave) Wilhelm IX to buy the collection for the university. However, the price was too high and thus the collection was not acquired. Nevertheless, contemporary geologists and zoologists catalogued the collection and published these efforts in the book "Museum Leskeanum" in 1789, edited by Dietrich Ludwig Gustav Karsten (Karsten 1789). This work is largely forgotten today and has even been excluded from Zoological Nomenclature in Opinion 1877 (ICZN 1997). Karsten was involved in cataloguing the geological objects and shells in Leske´s collection. The insects were catalogued by Johann Jacob Zschach and these pages have been published separately one year before the complete work (Zschach 1788). Thus, this latter work is available for Zoological Nomenclature, because it is mentioned in the Application (Rosenberg 1996) but not on the Official Index. The Museum Leskeanum has an indirect impact on insect nomenclature: Gmelin was aware of the book and in his 1790 volume (Gmelin 1790) he copied the descriptions of insects from Museum Leskeanum and gave binominal names to them. Thus, these names are available. He named one of the species "Empis fuscipes". Thus, this name is a senior primary homonym of Empis fuscipes Fabricius, 1794. However, according to Article 23.9.1. of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature it is possible to disregard the senior homonym if it has not been in use after 1899 and the junior homonym has been in frequent use. To my knowledge, the name by Gmelin has never been used in any other publication and is thus a perfect nomen oblitum. It is difficult to determine whether Article 23.9.1.2. is met, because the body of literature on this particular Empis species is small given that Dipterology is not as proliferative as e.g. Lepidopterology or Coleopterology. But I suggest that Empis fuscipes Fabricius, 1794 should be regarded as a nomen protectum. The name Empis fuscipes Gmelin, 1790 is a nomen dubium and the description is too general to identify it. However, the few descriptive words in the original description agree with the present species and therefore I assign the name to the present species as a possible but very tentative synonym. Empis fuscipes Brullé, 1832 is a nomen dubium as well. It has not been described from Germany, but from Greece and therefore I do not regard this name further. It might denote a separate Greek species; if so it would need a new name, because the name by Brullé is a junior primary homonym of Empis fuscipes Gmelin, 1790 and Empis fuscipes Fabricius, 1794. Identification Distribution Biology This page has been updated on February 11, 2012 This site is online since May 31, 2005 Copyright © by Nikola-Michael Prpic. All rights reserved.	Related information: Subspecies Original description Synonyms Identification Distribution Biology References