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Home How to cite this site Terms & conditions Disclaimer Contact Site tutorial / Help Links	Bicellaria nigra Subspecies Original description Synonyms Cyrtoma nigra Meigen, 1824 (nec Macquart, 1823) Bicellaria nigra (Meigen, 1824) (nec Macquart, 1823) (secondary junior homonym, but see note below) Cyrtoma rufa Meigen, 1824 Bicellaria rufa (Meigen, 1824) Empis pulicaria auct. nec Fallén, 1816 (by erroneous synonymy) Note: Bicellaria nigra (Meigen, 1824) is a secondary junior homonym of Bicellaria nigra Macquart, 1823. The latter name is currently in synonymy of Bicellaria spuria (Fallén, 1818), but nevertheless both names refer to different species of the same genus (i.e. they are conspecific). As such the younger name is to be considered invalid according to Article 59 of the Code. However, Article 23.9. of the Code allows for a reversal of precendence if the senior homonym has not been used as a valid name after 1899 and if the junior homonym has been in frequent use (defined as more than 25 references by at least 10 different authors within at least 10 years). My preliminary check of the literature has shown that Bicellaria nigra Macquart, 1823 has been totally neglected after its description; neither the new genus Bicellaria Macquart, 1823 nor the new species Bicellaria nigra Macquart, 1823 have been considered in the major dipterological works of the leading dipterologists of that time Meigen, Loew, Schiner and Zetterstedt. Not even Macquart himself listed the genus or the species in his subsequent works. To my knowledge, the first reference work to "rediscover" Macquart´s names are the catalogs of Kertesz: in the catalog of Palearctic flies he lists the genus, but omits the species, in the Catalogus Dipterorum finally he lists both the genus and the species, but the species is already listed as a synonym of Bicellaria spuria. Thus, Bicellaria nigra Macquart, 1823 has not been in use after its description and has not been used as a valid name by another author. Whether Bicellaria nigra (Meigen, 1824) has been in constant use by over 10 different authors is more difficult to determine. My preliminary screen of the literature suggests that this criterion is met, but only if mentioning of this name in faunal lists is accepted as "use of the name". Thus, I am confident that the provisions of Article 23.9. are met and that Bicellaria nigra (Meigen, 1824) can be maintained as the valid name although it is younger than its homonym.   Identification Distribution Biology This page has been updated on August 10, 2011 This site is online since May 31, 2005 Copyright © by Nikola-Michael Prpic. All rights reserved.	Related information: Subspecies Original description Synonyms Identification Distribution Biology References