<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/3/22 11:12 AM, Simon Moore wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:1C6F2377-B804-4D32-9288-B23BCC542FD5@btinternet.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
Thanks Doug,
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">If we’re getting into type designations, I though
that paratypes were the other specimens collected with the
holotype, and that if the holotype was a female then a male
allotrope would be designated as well if both sexes were
present. If no holotype was described (unusual these days) then
the original collection would be syntypes?</div>
</blockquote>
<p>Types in zoology and botany are slightly different, so I'll give
the minimal info for zoology. Paratypes are any specimens from any
source that the author states are specimens of a new taxon in that
original paper, and ONLY in that original paper. They may or may
not be the same sex or life stage as the holotype, or from the
same geographic region. Designation of one specific paratype as an
"allotype" is a practice not endorsed by the ICZN Code; it is an
archaic practice, and we discourage it because it confuses people
into assuming that those specimens are important in some way, and
they aren't. Once a description of a new species is published, an
author cannot designate more paratypes, nor can other authors.<br>
</p>
<p>Syntypes are either when no single specimen was selected from
among the original material used for a description, <b>or</b>
when an author intentionally designated multiple types in addition
to having a set of paratypes. It isn't done very often any more,
but it can actually be useful under <b>very</b> specific
circumstances. For example, if I captured a <b>mating pair</b>
(in copulo) of an insect I decided was a new species, having BOTH
specimens as syntypes is preferrable, because they are then both
curated more carefully (often physically separate from the rest of
the collection), and if one is lost, the other still exists. Also,
in the very, VERY unlikely event that this was a hybrid coupling,
a subsequent author would be <b>free to choose</b> which one to
make the lectotype. <br>
</p>
<p>Peace,<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html">https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html</a>
"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82</pre>
</body>
</html>