Case 3563PachylemurLamberton, 1948 (Primates, lemuridae): proposed conservation of the generic name

Abstract

The purpose of this application, under Articles 23.9.3, 81.1 and 81.2.3 of the Code, is to conserve the name Pachylemur Lamberton, 1948 (Primates, LEMURIDAE), a genus of subfossil Malagasy lemurs, by suppressing the senior subjective synonym Palaeochirogalus Grandidier, 1899 and by designating a type species for the genus Pachylemur Lamberton. Palaeochirogalus Grandidier has never seen any substantial usage whereas Pachylemur Lamberton, 1948 is in universal use; however, Pachylemur Lamberton, 1948 is unavailable because no type species was designated in the original publication. Filhol (1874) previously used the name Pachylemur for a 'groupe' of Paleogene primates; we conclude that this name, under either Filhol's or Palmer's (1904) authorship and, in either case, ambiguous as regards availability should be formally suppressed at the genus-group level to prevent confusion. Keywords. Nomenclature; taxonomy; LEMURIDAE; Palaeochirogalus; Pachylemur; Pachylemur insignis; lemur; Madagascar.1. Filhol (1874, p. 18) introduced the name Pachylemur for a group of ancient primate-like mammals: "Ce groupe, je proposerai de le désigner sous le nom de Pachylemur, et j'y placerai le Paleolemur Bettillei, ' Adapis, ' Aphelotherium, animal dont je viens de donner la description et les divers Lémuriens signalés jusqu'ici en Amerique'. He called Pachylemur a 'groupe' (group) and 'type zoologique' (zoological type) and explicitly included genera ('genres') within the 'groupe' (also Filhol, 1874, p. 18; outside the passage quoted above). Thus he apparently did not intend Pachylemur as a generic name; the possibility remains, however, that it could be construed as a generic name proposed for a series of taxa at subgeneric level. If Pachylemur Filhol, 1874 is construed as a family-group name, it is unavailable in the absence of an available type genus and because it is not a noun in the nominative plural (Article 11.7.1.1 of the Code).