In
zoological nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the In ...
, an unavailable name is a name that does not conform to the rules of the
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the ...
and that therefore is not available for use as a valid name for a
taxon
In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...
. Such a name does not fulfil the requirements in Articles 10 through 20 of the Code, or is excluded under Article 1.3.
Unavailable names include names that have not been validly published, such as "''
Oryzomys hypenemus
"''Ekbletomys hypenemus''" is an extinct oryzomyine rodent from the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Lesser Antilles. It was described as the only species of the subgenus "''Ekbletomys''" of genus ''Oryzomys'' in a 1962 Ph.D. thesis, but that ...
''", names without an accompanying description (''
nomina nuda
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''), such as the subgeneric name ''Micronectomys'' proposed for the
Nicaraguan rice rat
''Oryzomys dimidiatus'', also known as the Nicaraguan oryzomys, Thomas's rice rat, or the Nicaraguan rice rat, is a rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is known from only three specimens, all collected in southeastern Nicaragua since 1904. Plac ...
, names proposed with a rank below that of
subspecies (
infrasubspecific name
In biological classification, taxonomic rank is the relative level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in an ancestral or hereditary hierarchy. A common system consists of species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain. While ...
s), such as ''Sorex isodon princeps montanus'' for a form of the
taiga shrew
The taiga shrew (''Sorex isodon''), also known as the even-toothed shrew can achieve a body length of about 67 millimeters, with a tail of about 43 millimeters. This shrew is very similar to the long-clawed shrew. This species inhabits forested ...
,
[Hutterer & Zaitsev, 2004, p. 89] and various other categories.
Notes
{{reflist
References
*Hershkovitz, P. 1970. Supplementary notes on Neotropical ''Oryzomys dimidiatus'' and ''Oryzomys hammondi'' (Cricetinae). Journal of Mammalogy 51(4): 789-794.
*Hutterer, R. & Zaitsev, M.V. 2004. Cases of homonymy in some Palaearctic and Nearctic taxa of the genus ''Sorex'' L. (Mammalia: Soricidae). Mammal Study 29:89-91.
*International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature. 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 4th edition. London: The International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. Available online at https://web.archive.org/web/20090524144249/http://www.iczn.org/iczn/index.jsp. Accessed September 27, 2009.
Zoological nomenclature