Works by George S. Myers
Works by George S. Myers

New Genera of African Poeciliid Fishes


The genera of Indo-Malayan and African cyprinodont fishes related to Panchax and Nothobranchius.


Callopanchax ICZN

CALLOPANCHAX MYERS 1933 (PISCES): REQUEST FOR A RULING AS TO THE TYPE-SPECIES. Z.N.(S.) 1910

Note that the fish inspected by Myers at the "National Museum" (USNM 94316) (Now the "Smithsonium Museum") is still misidentified as "Aphyosenmion sjostedti" but is actually Callopanchax occidentalis.

6) (...) Aside from Boulenger's accounts just cited, I had only a single preserved specimen of the species I chose as type of Callopanchax; it was almost certainly the only museum specimen of that fish in North America in 1933. It is in the U.S. National Museum (Register no. 94316). It was an aquarium specimen (male) of the "golden pheasant", without locality data, and it agreed well with Boulenger's 1915 figure of the male and his description of "Fundulus sjoestedti". From these data it will be abundantly clear that the type-species I chose for Callopanchax Myers, 1933, was the "golden pheasant", which was described and figured by Boulenger as Fundulus sjoestedti (Lonnberg). Moreover, the matter is verifiable by examination of my specimen (USNM 94316).

9) In the last-mentioned paper (1967 : 22) Stenholt Clausen admitted that the "golden pheasant" had uniformly been known as Aphyosemion sjoestedti previous to his publication of 1966. He also admitted that the "golden pheasant" was almost surely the species I had in mind when I made Fundulus sjoestedti the type-species of Callopanchax in 1933.

11) (...) I must dissent from the implied conclusion that I based two new generic names on the same species! I have already demonstrated that I did not do so, and also that the facts are verifiable from the literature alone, to say nothing of the evidence provided by the only specimen of the "golden pheasant" available to me in 1933. The subgenus Callopanchax Myers, 1933, was clearly based upon a misidentified type-species, Fundulus sjoestedti Boulenger, 1915 (nee Fundulus sjoestedti Lonnberg, 1895), which equals Aphyosemion occidentale Stenholt Clausen, 1966.

Source:
https://archive.org/stream/bulletinofzoolog27inte/bulletinofzoolog27inte_djvu.txt


ICZN response on the Callopanchax issue


The Smithsonian has an archive of Myers' works here:
https://sova.si.edu/record/SIA.FARU7317









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Richard J. Sexton