Homonym (zoology)

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In zoological nomenclature, a homonym is a zoological name that is identical in spelling to another such name, that belongs to a different taxon.

The rule in zoological nomenclature is that the first such name to be published is the senior homonym and is to be used (it is "valid"); any others are junior homonyms and must be replaced with new names.

For example:

*Georges Cuvier proposed the genus Echidna in 1797 for the spiny anteater.

*However, Johann Reinhold Forster had already published the name Echidna in 1777 for a genus of moray eels.

*Forster's use thus has priority, with Cuvier's being a junior homonym.

*Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger published the replacement name Tachyglossus in 1811.

See also

homonym, homonym (botany)

 

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