On Gonorynchus, Gonorhynchus, Gonorinchus, Gonorhinchus and Gonorrhynchus, and some other names of labeonine fishes (Teleostei: Gonorynchidae and Cyprinidae)
Author
Kottelat, Maurice
text
Zootaxa
2016
4178
3
443
450
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.4178.3.8
f8971730-b680-42c1-a883-8a6dddf9e66d
1175-5326
163344
C3AD6591-AF2B-42C7-9548-9F37A1F90E2A
Gonorhynchus
Cuvier, 1816
With such a widely known and used name as
Gonorynchus
, based on classical Greek words frequently used to form names in zoology, but with the infrequent spelling
-rynchus
instead of the frequent
-rhynchus
, one expects that some subsequent authors would have spelled the name
Gonorhynchus
instead of
Gonorynchus
, either as a mispelling, an emendation or a new name.
Indeed,
Cuvier (1816a: 196)
used the spelling
Gonorhynchus
for a subgenus of
Cyprinus
(explicitly stated p. 191 and made clear also by the size of the font). Cuvier attributed the name to
Gronovius (1763)
, provided a diagnosis and included the only then-known species. Neither Scopoli nor alternative spellings are mentioned. This made the name
Gonorhynchus
available, with Cuvier, 1816 as author. The type species, by monotypy, is “
Cyprinus gonorynchus
Gm
[elin, 1789: 1422]”, which is
C. gonorynchus
Linné, 1766
: 528
, also based on
Gronovius (1763)
. This makes
Gonorhynchus
Cuvier, 1816 a
junior objective synonym of
Gonorynchus
Scopoli, 1777
, but not an homonym, because of the one-letter difference in spelling. The text in the second edition of
Cuvier (1829: 277)
is quasi identical to the 1816 one. The Index of
Cuvier (1816a)
, in volume 4 (
Cuvier 1816b: 217
), uses the spelling
Gonorhinchus.
The two volumes have been issued simultaneously (
Roux 1976
;
Evenhuis 1997
: 173); as first reviser I give precedence to the spelling
Gonorhynchus
.
Gonorinchus
Bosc, 1817
: 301 is an incorrect subsequent spelling of
Gonorhynchus
Cuvier, 1816
.
Gonorrynchus
Ogilby, 1911
: 32
is an unjustified emendation of
Gonorhynchus
Cuvier, 1816
.
Jarocki (1822: 57)
provided a description of the genus
Gonorhynchus
, with a reference to “GL” (Laur. Gronovius). Neither
Gonorynchus
Scopoli
nor
Gonorhynchus
Cuvier
(or alternative spellings) are mentioned. But Jarocki was well aware of
Cuvier (1816a)
; for example he used
Lebia
, a name created by
Cuvier (1816a)
, and explicitly referred it to Cuvier. Jarocki's
Gonorhynchus
is therefore not a new name but a subsequent use of Cuvier's.
The spelling
Gonorhynchus
is also used by
Fleming (1822: 386)
, this time with a reference to
Cuvier. Cuvier (1816a)
was an important work and it has been translated in several languages, for example to German by Schinz (
Cuvier 1822
), which also includes
Gonorhynchus
p. 335 (I did not research the other translations of Cuvier (1816)). Besides, it is possible that other authors have independently made the name
Gonorhynchus
available, even before Cuvier (1816). This does not change the present argument.
Gonorincus
Rafinesque, 1815
: 88
has no diagnosis but a bibliographic reference (“Gr.”), which, although laconic, is reasonably clear for that time and for those then familiar with ichthyological literature and is an available name; the name does not seem to have been used again. The type species apparently is
Cyprinus gonorynchus
Linné, 1766
, by subsequent designation by
Fowler, 1941
: 728
. This makes it a junior objective synonym of
Gonorynchus
Scopoli, 1777
.