Odhnea, Ng & Low, 2010

Ng, P. K. L. & Low, M. E. Y., 2010, On the generic nomenclature of nine brachyuran names, with four replacement names and two nomina protecta (Crustacea: Decapoda), Zootaxa 2489 (1), pp. 34-46 : 36

Odhnea nom. nov. for Odhneria Sakai, 1983 ( Xanthidae MacLeay, 1838 ), preoccupied by Odhneria Travassos,

1921, and Odhneria Baer, 1924 (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda)

The name Odhneria was first used for two different genera of Trematoda. Lauro Travassos (1921: 64) established the genus Odhneria with a new species, Odhneria odhneri , as type species. In 1924, Jean-Georges Baer (p. 22) also used Odhneria as a name for a new genus of Trematoda, distinct from that of Travassos’ (1921). Baer (1924: 25) explains the etymology of the name stating: “We dedicate this new genus to Prof. Th. Odhner, who has done so much for the study and classification of the digenetic Trematodes.”.

Yeh (1957: 99) found Baer’s (1924) name to be synonymous with Encyclometra Baylis & Cannon, 1924 , and noted that both names were “published on the same day”. Tkach (2008: 349), however, comments that “the paper by Baer (1924) was published several days earlier than that of Baylis & Cannon (1924) ”. In any case, Yeh (1957) was aware of Travassos’ (1921) earlier use of the name Odhneria and as he had recognized Encyclometra Baylis & Cannon, 1924 , as the senior synonym for Odhneria Baer, 1924 , he had no need to give a replacement name. The “Odhner”, whom the names honour is Nils Johan Teodor Odhner, a Swedish zoologist attached to the University of Christiana in Norway ( Anonymous 1929). He also published several works on the Crustacea later in his career (see Odhner 1923, 1925), which led to Odhneria being proposed as a patronym for him and thus became a third homonym.

Tune Sakai (1983: 13, 14) established a new genus of Xanthidae , Odhneria , after the same Nils Johan Teodor Odhner. Although he makes no reference to the derivation of this name, Odhner’s (1925) work is cited extensively. Furthermore, in an earlier paper, Sakai (1974: 92) determined that the “ Actaea kraussi ” of Odhner (1925: 73) was in fact a new species and proposed the name Banareia odhneri , stating “To this latter form, [the] new specific name odhneri is given at this opportunity”. It can thus safely be assumed that Odhneria was also named in honour of Nils Johan Teodor Odhner.

We propose the name Odhnea nom. nov. for Odhneria Sakai, 1983 , which is preoccupied by both Odhneria Travassos, 1921 , and Odhneria Baer, 1924 . This name is arbitrarily derived from the preoccupied name Odhneria . The gender is feminine, and the type species remains Odhneria acutidens Sakai, 1983 .