Melobesia Foslie, 1898, nom. illeg.
Lectotype species: Melobesia farinosa J.V.Lamouroux
Currently accepted name for the type species: Hydrolithon farinosum (J.V.Lamouroux) Penrose & Y.M.Chamberlain
Original publication: Foslie, M. (1898). List of species of the Lithothamnia. Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskabs Skrifter 1898(3): 1-11.
Request PDFType designated in: Hamel, G. & Lemoine, M. (1953). Corallinacées de France et d'Afrique du Nord. Archives du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris, série 7 1: 15-138, 23 plates.
Precise date of publication: 24 December 1898 (see Woelkerling 1993: 278 for details). The requirements for valid publication are specified in the ICBN (International Code of Botanical Nomenclature).
The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2023-05-18 by M.D. Guiry.
Taxonomic status: This name is currently regarded as a synonym of Hydrolithon.
Gender: This genus name is currently treated as feminine.
Comments: Foslie never designated a type for Melobesia Foslie (1898), although, as noted by Mason (1953: 335), Foslie’s concept of the genus changed over time and eventually (Foslie 1909: 56) appeared to contain only one species (M. farinosa). Subsequently Hamel & Lemoine (1953:101) formally lectotypified Melobesia Foslie (1898) with M. farinosa (J.V. Lamouroux) Foslie. The type of M. farinosa, which is also the type species of the generic name Fosliella M.A. Howe (1920), was examined by Penrose & Chamberlain (1993) and determined to belong to Hydrolithon. Consequently, Penrose & Chamberlain (1993) treated Fosliella Howe as a heterotypic synonym of Hydrolithon.
Foslie’s concept of Melobesia, and that of another illegitimate homonym, Melobesia Heydrich (1897 ) (see separate AlgaeBase entry), persisted, in the literature for many years (e.g. see Levring 1974; Etcheverry 1986) even though Mason (1953) had clearly summarized the ‘illegal’ (=illegitimate) nature of the Foslie and Heydrich names.
Although the generic name Melobesia Foslie is illegitimate, all 18 species names that Foslie (1898: 10-11) included in the original presentation of Melobesia Heydrich are legitimate (see Art. 55 of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
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Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 18 May 2023. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 24 April 2024
