Biodiversity Studies The term ‘biodiversity’ coined, in 1985, as a contraction of ‘biological diversity’ refers to the variety of life in all its forms, levels and combinations: including ecosystem diversity, species diversity, and genetic diversity. With the current international focus on the global crisis in biodiversity, the importance of the Commission’s work to ensure that the correctness of the scientific names of animals is now of the highest priority.
Conservation International conventions and national or regional legislation concerning threatened or endangered animals specify the species or subspecies name of the animals that the law intends to protect. Thereafter, protection goes with the name rather than the endangered species itself. Any subsequent change in name could therefore affect conservation measures. The Commission often acts to protect the names of endangered species.
Medical & Veterinary Research Leucocytozoonosis is a disease caused by protozoan blood parasites of the genus Leucocytozoon that is mainly transmitted by the bite of various species of black fly (Simuliidae). Both wild and domestic bird species are susceptible to infection with Leucocytozoon species, including: chickens (L. caulleryi), ducks & geese (L. simondi), turkeys (L. smithi), pigeons & doves (L. marchouxi) and raptors (L. ziemanni and L. toddi). There has long been confusion in the authorship and date of the generic name, and the name of its type species. This uncertainty has been removed on behalf of the veterinary and pharmaceutical professions by a Commission ruling. [2001]
Farming, Fisheries & Horticulture The names of the economically important edible octopus, Octopus vulgaris Cuvier, 1797, and squid, Loligo vulgaris Lamarck, 1795, were threatened by long disused senior synonyms. O. vulgaris, the common octopus, is a coastal species with a cosmopolitan distribution in temperate and tropical seas. It is a commercially important species in northeast African, Atlantic European, Mediterranean and Japanese waters, accounting for a large percentage of octopus fisheries, with around 100,000 metric tonnes landed annually according to United Nations Food & Agricultural Organisation’s statistics. The common squid, L. vulgaris, found in temperate waters from the North Sea and around the British Isles to the western African coast, and throughout the Mediterranean Sea, along with L. forbesi is the main target of squid fisheries on the Atlantic European coasts. The Commission conserved the specific names of these two important species and placed them on the Official Lists.
Palaeontology & Biostratigraphy Since its foundation, the Commission has considered numerous applications dealing with the names of fossils including foraminifera, brachiopods, molluscs (e.g. ammonites), arthropods (e.g. trilobites), graptolites, reptiles (e.g. dinosaurs), birds (e.g. Archaeopteryx) and mammals.
Entomology Drywood termites, where abundant, can cause great economic losses, with costs for control and repair of their damage rivaling that of subterranean termites. The West Indian termite Cryptotermes brevis is considered the world's most destructive drywood termite. Another economically important termite, Cryptotermes dudleyi, has the potential to cause economic losses comparable to that currently caused by C. brevis. The name C. dudleyi has been used universally and extensively in biological systematic and pest control literature. However this name is a junior synonym of the now disused older name C. jacobsoni. The Commission has conserved the widely used younger name by suppressing C. jacobsoni. [2004]
