Re: Re-use a name?

[Stanley Friesen <sarima@ix.netcom.com>]

At 06:49 PM 6/27/97 -0700, Jonathon Woolf wrote:
>I recall reading somewhere recently of a name given a dinosaur (might
>have been _Centrosaurus_) that was questioned, branded invalid 
>because it had been used before, then resurrected on the grounds that
>the older use turned out to be a junior synonym of another genus
>name.

You apparently heard the story wrong.

It was resurrected because the "older" name was unavailable - I think it
turned out to be a nomen nudum, or perhaps it was a nomen oblitum.  Mere
synonymy is *not* sufficient to make a name unavailable.
>
>Thus, a question: Could some enterprising soul apply the name
>"Brontosaurus" to a new, hitherto undescribed species of sauropod,

Nope.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima@ix.netcom.com
                                          sfriesen@netlock.com