Eucera nigra Lepeletier 1841

Abstract

Eucera nigra Lepeletier, 1841 Lepeletier (1841: 126) described Eucera nigra in the female sex from Oran (Algeria). Friese in Dalla Torre (1896: 225) considered Lepeletier’s taxon to be preoccupied by Macrocera nigra Lepeletier, 1841 which was described on page 112. Both Dalla Torre and Friese considered the genus Macrocera Latreille, 1810 (nec. Meigen, 1803, a Dipteran genus) to be the same genus as Eucera Scopoli, 1770, hence rendering Eucera nigra Lepeletier a junior secondary homonym of Macrocera nigra Lepeletier. Whilst today Tetralonia Spinola, 1838 (the replacement name for Latreille’s Macrocera) is considered to be distinct from Eucera (Freitas et al. 2023), at the time of Dalla Torre and Friese a broad generic concept was followed. Friese in Dalla Torre (1896: 225) therefore proposed the name Eucera aterrima Friese, 1896, a name which is currently in use (e.g. Risch 2001; Mazzeo 2019), with the former publication uncertainly forming the combination Eucera nigrita ssp. aterrima Friese, 1896. Dorchin (2023: 15) treated Eucera nigra as a valid name, designating a lectotype and treating the name as senior to Eucera subvillosa Lepeletier, 1841, citing ICZN Article 24.2 as the First Reviser in choosing one concurrently published name over the other. However, this choice is secondary to the fact that Friese in Dalla Torre (1896) had already acted as the First Reviser in judging Eucera nigra Lepeletier to be a junior secondary homonym of Macrocera nigra Lepeletier. Because this action was published before 1961, and the replacement name Eucera aterrima is still in use, the provisions of Article 59.3 apply; Eucera nigra Lepeletier is permanently invalid regardless of the fact that the genera Eucera and Tetralonia are no longer considered congeneric. The oldest available name, Eucera subvillosa, therefore becomes valid, with E. aterrima as a junior subjective synonym.

Authors 1

1. Thomas James Wood corresponding Aachen Naturalis Biodiversity Center

   Naturalis Biodiversity Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, 2333 CR, Leiden, The Netherlands