Re: Authorship of Scyllaeidae

June 28, 2003
From: Henk K. Mienis

Dear Gert and Bill,
Here my two cents in the Scyllaeidae problem. Although Linnaeus created the genus Scyllaea, he was not the author of the family Scyllaeidae. Bill offered Bergh, 1890, however, the family had been used 35 years earlier by Alder & Hancock in their well-known book concerning the British Nudibranchs.

• Alder, J. & Hancock, A., 1845-1855. A monograph of the British Nudibranchiate mollusca: with figures of all the species. (published in seven parts)

They treat the genus Scyllaea in part 4 (1848). They stated among others that: "Here, however, the typical character of the Tritoniadae is still sufficiently preserved to allow of our retaining the genus in that family." And a little bit further on: "This is the only nudibranchiate mollusk in which any armature of the stomach, performing the functions of a gizard, has been detected."

In the Appendix to part 7 (1855) the family name Scyllaeidae is mentioned on page XX with the only species Scyllaea pelagica Linnaeus, 1758 included.

I do not have access to Rafinesque 1815, so I can not check whether Abbott was correct in considering the latter as the author of the family name Scyllaeidae.

Best regards,
Henk K. Mienis

mienis@netzer.org.il

Mienis, H.K., 2003 (Jun 28) Re: Authorship of Scyllaeidae. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10318

Thanks Henk,
I must admit I checked Alder & Hancock but stopped at the Appendix because I thought it was just odd notes on species that they had previously dealt with. The index accompanying the Monograph does not include Scyllaeidae, although other family names are included. I should have known it doesn't pay in nomenclatural problems to 'suppose' anything. Since my earlier message I've checked Rafinesque 1815 and he lists Scyllaea as a cephalopod in Family Pleuropteria, SubFamily Pleuropia. So unless someone has an earlier find, Alder & Hancock 1855 seems to be the earliest usage.

• Alder, J., & A. Hancock. 1855. A monograph of the British nudibranchiate Mollusca: with figures of all the species. Part 7. Ray Society, London.
• Rafinesque, C. S. 1815. Analyse de la nature ou tableau de l'univers et des corps organises, pp. 136-149. Palermo.

Cheers,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Jun 28). Comment on Re: Authorship of Scyllaeidae by Henk K. Mienis. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10318

Factsheet

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