Eleutherospora Heydrich, 1900

Holotype species: Eleutherospora polymorpha Heydrich

Publication details: Heydrich, 1900: 64

Currently accepted name for the type species: Phymatolithon purpureum (P.Crouan & H.Crouan) Woelkerling & L.M.Irvine

Original publication and holotype designation: Heydrich, F. (1900). Die Lithothamnien von Helgoland. Wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen, N.F. 4 (Abt. Helgoland): 63-82, pl. 2.

Precise date of publication: 1900 (more precise date not determined) The requirements for valid publication are specified in the ICBN (International Code of Botanical Nomenclature)

Description: No description is provided as this name is currently treated as a synonym.

Information kindly contributed by Wm. J. Woelkerling but may now be outdated.

Taxonomic status: This name is currently regarded as a synonym of Phymatolithon.

Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Schneider, C.W. & Wynne, M.J. (2007). A synoptic review of the classification of red algal genera a half a century after Kylin's "Die Gattungen der Rhodophyceen". Botanica Marina 50: 197-249.

Comments: Seven generic names are based on Millepora polymorpha Linnaeus and thus are ultimately typified by the type of Millepora calcarea Pallas. Chronologically these are Apora Gunnerus (1768), Nullipora Lamarck (1801), Agardhina Nardo (1834), Agardhia Meneghini (1838), Juergensia Reichenbach (1841), Phymatolithon Foslie (1898) and Eleutherospora Heydrich (1900). Because Phymatolithon is a conserved name, it automatically takes precedence over the other seven names, which must be rejected under ICBN Art. 14.4, irrespective of when they were validly published. Separate entries for each name are provided in AlgaeBase.

An account of the epitype specimen of Millepora calcarea Pallas, the correct name for Millepora polymorpha Linnaeus, is provided by Woelkerling & Irvine (1986, as Phymatolithon calcareum).

Nomenclatural note
The ICBN rules cited below are those adopted by the Seventeenth International Botanical Congress, Vienna, Austria, July 2005 (McNeill et al. 2006).

In accordance with ICBN Art 13.3, the name Eleutherospora Heydrichis treated as pertaining to a non-fossil taxon because its type is based on a non-fossil specimen. No species based on fossil types have been assigned to the genus to date.

The generic name Eleutherospora is typified (ICBN Art. 10.1) by the type of E. polymorphum, the only species originally included in the genus. Although Heydrich based his species name on Millepora polymorpha Linnaeus, his binomial is correctly cited as Eleutherospora polymorpha Heydrich and not E. polymorpha (Linnaeus) Heydrich because Millepora polymorpha is illegitimate (see below) and thus cannot serve as a basionym (ICBN Art. 45.3). Eleutherospora polymorpha Heydrich is considered to be a new name (ICBN Art. 58) but is also illegitimate because Heydrich did not explicitly exclude the type of Millepora calcarea Pallas (see ICBN Art. 58, Note 1) from his species.

Both Eleutherospora and Phymatolithon are based on Millepora polymorpha Linnaeus (1767: 1285), a superfluous substitute name for Millepora calcarea Pallas (1766: 265) and thus illegitimate under ICBN Art. 52. In accordance with ICBN Art.7.5, Millepora polymorpha is automatically typified by the type of M. calcarea, the name that should have been adopted under the rules. Because the type of Millepora calcarea Pallas typifies the name Millepora polymorpha Linnaeus (and thus the names Phymatolithon polymorphum Foslie and Eleutherospora polymorpha Heydrich), it also typifies the generic names Phymatolithon and Eleutherospora (ICBN Art. 10.1). The current correct name for Millepora calcarea is Phymatolithon calcareum (Pallas) Adey & McKibbin (1970: 100).

Woelkerling & Irvine (1986: 58) designated a specimen in the Natural History Museum, London (BM, Algal Box Collection 1626) as neotype of Millepora calcarea Pallas. Spencer et al. (2009: 253) noted, however, that subsequent changes in the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature meant that this neotypification had to be superseded. Consequently L.M. Irvine (in Spencer et al. 2009: 253) lectotypified the species with one of the illustrations cited in the protologue by Pallas (1766), namely Tab. 27, fig. C in Ellis (1755), and Woelkerling & Irvine (in Spencer et al. 2009: 253) then designated the specimen in BM Algal Box Collection 1626 (BM 000562555, depicted in Woelkerling & Irvine 1986: figs 1A, 2-15) as epitype.

Phymatolithon Foslie (1898) is formally conserved against Apora Gunnerus (1768) under ICBN Art 14 and is listed in the Nomina Generica Conservanda (ICBN, Appendix III, A9). In accordance with ICBN Art. 14.4, Phymatolithon is also automatically conserved against all other homotypic synonyms (generic names based on the same type), including Eleutherospora, which technically is also a later synonym and thus superfluous (ICBN Art. 52). Further data relating to the conservation of Phymatolithon Foslie are provided in Woelkerling & Irvine (1986), Irvine & Woelkerling (1986) Woelkerling (1988: 199).

The application of ICBN Art 45.3 & Art. 58 in determining authorship and illegitimacy was ascertained in email correspondence in May 2009 with Paul Silva (Chairman, Permanent Nomenclature Committee for Algae) and John McNeill (Chairman, Editorial Committee for the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature adopted by the Seventeenth International Botanical Congress, Vienna, Austria, July 2005). - (28 August 2009)

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Contributors
Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in CD format. These AlgaeBase descriptions are now being continually updated, and each current contributor is identified above. The PSA and AlgaeBase warmly acknowledge the generosity of all past and present contributors and particularly the work of Dr Parker.

Descriptions of chrysophyte genera were subsequently published in J. Kristiansen & H.R. Preisig (eds.). 2001. Encyclopedia of Chrysophyte Genera. Bibliotheca Phycologica 110: 1-260.

Linking to this page: https://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=43978

Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 05 October 2010. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 25 May 2025