Pseudohynobius shuichengensis

Ohler, Annemarie, Frétey, Thierry & Dubois, Alain, 2015, The authorships and dates of the specific nomina Megophrys shuichengensis and Pseudohynobius shuichengensis (Amphibia), Zootaxa 3963 (4), pp. 595-597 : 595

Pseudohynobius shuichengensis

This species was first described by Tian Yingzhou, Gu Xiaomin, Sun Aiqun & Li Shong (1998) in the JLTC. In the original description, the holotype was stated to be the adult male LTHC 9460080 (total length 195.7 mm, snout-vent length 103.0 mm) collected on 11 June 1994 at an elevation of 1820 metres in the Shuicheng County. The original description also mentioned an ‘allotype’ female LTHC 9460084 collected at the same time and place, and 100 other paratypes (10 males, 10 females, 80 young) collected from 1994 to 1997 between 1800 and 1850 metres in the Shuicheng County. Dubois et al. (2005: 48) noted that the specific epithet appeared under three different spellings in the original publication ( shuichengensis , xhuichengensis , shuichenensis), and, acting as first revisers, they chose the spelling shuichengensis as the ‘correct original spelling’ of the nomen. Frost (2014) credited in error this original description to ‘ Tian, Li & Gu, 1998 ’ and stated that the holotype was LTHC 9460084, but this is the number of the ‘allotype’.

Tian, Li & Gu (2006) redescribed this species in Acta Zoologica Sinica under the same nomen, without mentioning the original description. They therefore created a new nomen, having a different authorship and date and being an invalid junior homonym of the original nomen (for details see Dubois 2012). They gave the same information for the type specimens, including their numbers and measurements (except for the total length of the holotype, given as 197.5 mm), but they changed the figures for the elevations of the collection of the holotype and ‘allotype’ (1970 metres) and of the other paratypes (1910–1970 metres). Frost (2014) gave the latter figures for the original description, although they seem to be a ‘correction’ (without explanation) of the original data. Frost (2014) stated that the holotype mentioned in the redescription (LTHC 9460080) was a different specimen from the original one, which would make both nomina subjective synonyms (doxisonyms). In fact, the nomen Pseudohynobius shuichengensis Tian, Li & Gu, 2006 is simply an invalid objective junior synonym (isonym) of Pseudohynobius shuichengensis Tian, Gu, Sun & Li, 1998 . This was acknowledged by Fei et al. (2009: 1611). This nomen appears also under two spellings in the paper of Tian, Li & Gu (2006): shuichengensis and shuichengehsis. Acting as first revisers, we hereby select shuichengensis as its correct original spelling.