Principle of Priority
Encyclopedia
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Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
, the scientific study of animals, the Principle of Priority is one of the guiding principles of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals...
, defined by Article 23.
It states that the correct formal scientific name for an animal taxon
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
, the name that is to be used, called the valid name
Valid name (zoology)
In zoological nomenclature, the valid name of a taxon is the zoological name that is to be used for that taxon following the rules in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature . In other words: a valid name is the correct zoological name of a taxon.In contrast, an invalid name is a name...
, is the oldest available name
Available name
In zoology, an available name is a scientific name for a taxon of animals that has been published conforming to all the mandatory provisions of the ICZN Code for the establishment of a zoological name....
that applies to it. There are exceptions; another name may be given precedence by any provision of the Code or by any ruling of the Commission.
It is the fundamental guiding precept that preserves the stability of zoological nomenclature. It was first formulated in 1842 by a committee appointed by the British Association to consider the rules of zoological nomenclature; the committee's report was written by Hugh Edwin Strickland
Hugh Edwin Strickland
Hugh Edwin Strickland , was an English geologist, ornithologist,naturalist, and systematist.Strickland was born at Reighton, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He was the second son of Henry Eustatius Strickland of Apperley, Gloucestershire, by his wife Mary, daughter of Edmund Cartwright, D.D. [q...
.
- In 1855, John Edward GrayJohn Edward GrayJohn Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....
published the name Antilocapra anteflexa for a new species of pronghornPronghornThe pronghorn is a species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the prong buck, pronghorn antelope, or simply antelope, as it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and...
, based on a pair of horns. However, it is now thought that his specimen belonged to an unusual individual of an existing species, Antilocapra americana, with a name published by George OrdGeorge OrdGeorge Ord was an American ornithologist.Ord was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father was a rope maker and Ord joined him in the business, continuing after his father's death in 1806...
in 1815. The older name, by Ord, takes priority; with Antilocapra anteflexa becoming a junior synonym. - In 1856, Johann Jakob KaupJohann Jakob KaupJohann Jakob Kaup was a German naturalist.-Biography:He was born at Darmstadt. After studying at Göttingen and Heidelberg he spent two years at Leiden, where his attention was specially devoted to the amphibians and fishes. He then returned to Darmstadt as an assistant in the grand ducal museum,...
published the name Leptocephalus brevirostris for a new species of eelEelEels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...
. However, it was realized in 1893 that the organism described by Kaup was in fact the juvenile form of the European eelEuropean eelThe European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is a species of eel, a snake-like, catadromous fish. They can reach in exceptional cases a length of 1½ m, but are normally much smaller, about 60–80 cm, and rarely more than 1 m....
(see eel life historyEel life historyThe eel is a long, thin bony fish of the order Anguilliformes. Because fishermen never caught anything they recognized as young eels, the life cycle of the eel was a mystery for a very long period of scientific history...
for the full story). The European eel was named Muraena anguilla by Carolus LinnaeusCarolus LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
in 1758. So Muraena anguilla is the name to be used for the species, and Leptocephalus brevirostris must be considered as a junior synonym and not be used. Today the European eel is classified in the genus AnguillaAnguillaAnguilla is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin...
Garsault, 1764, so its currently used name is Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758).