Nembrotha kubaryana

Also known as Nembrotha nigerrima

In their paper on the opisthobranchs of Mauritius, Yonow & Hayward (1991: 12) realised Nembrotha kubaryana Bergh, 1877 and Nembrotha nigerrima Bergh, 1877 were the same species and synonymised the latter name under the former name. Therefore, in this choice, Yonow & Hayward (1991) clearly and deliberately acted as First Reviser in the sense of Article 24.2.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999). Although both names were first formally published in the same work (Bergh 1877), Nembrotha kubaryana was selected because (a) it was illustrated by Bergh prior to Nembrotha nigerrima (i.e., Bergh 1881 versus Bergh 1905, respectively) and (b) because Nembrotha kubaryana is the much better known and used name in the current literature. Pola et al. (2008) agreed with the synonymy and even credited Yonow (but it should have been Yonow & Hayward 19991) with having already made it, but then erroneously attempted to justify Nembrotha nigerrima as a nomen protectum under Article 23.9.1 of the Code. In doing so, they overlooked the previous nomenclatural actions by Yonow & Hayward and, in fact, Article 23.9,1 definitely does not apply because both names have been used as valid since 1899. All three authors of the paper by Pola et al. (2008), i.e., Yonow, Cervera and Gosliner, have now issued a statement on the Internet to the effect that their selection was erroneous and they now recognise Nembrotha kubaryana as nomenclaturally correct (Gosliner 2008).