Introduction

The platycephalid genus Insidiator was established by Jordan and Snyder (1900) on the basis of Platycephalus rudis Günther 1877 (= junior synonym of Platycephalus meerdervoortii Bleeker 1860; see Matsubara and Ochiai 1955; Imamura 1996, for example). Whitley (1930) described the genus Suggrundus as the replacement name for Insidiator Jordan and Snyder, because he believed the latter to be preoccupied by Insidiator Oken 1842. After Whitley (1930), many authors recognized Suggrundus as valid (e.g., Matsubara and Ochiai 1955; Imamura 1996; Knapp 1999; Paxton et al. 2006). However, evidence is presented here that Insidiator Oken 1842 is unavailable, and Insidiator Jordan and Snyder is restored and Suggrundus becomes an unnecessary replacement name. Oken (1836) listed Insidiator Oken 1836 and it is revealed this name to be also an unavailable name. In addition, Whitley (1930) is regarded to have combined the generic name Insidiator and specific name insidiator, and his action makes Insidiator Whitley 1930 available; thus Insidiator Whitley is a junior homonym of Insidiator Jordan and Snyder. Repotrudis Whitley 1930 and Seychelliceps Prokofiev 2019 are synonymized here under Insidiator Jordan and Snyder.

Results and discussion

Oken’s Insidiator. Lorenz Oken (1779–1851) published monographs in seven volumes, entitled “Allgemeine Naturgeschichte für Alle Stände” from 1832 to 1841. Later, he published a universal index for names in the seven volumes in 1842. Oken (1842) listed the name of Insidiator as “Insidiator (ℨ.) VI. 222”, meaning the name is shown on the page 222 in volume 6 (Oken 1836) among the series of the monographs. However, the generic name Insidiator is not shown on the page, but “Sparus insidiator” [recently known as Epibulus insidiator (Pallas 1770); see Carlson et al. 2008; Fricke et al. 2020] is briefly described (latter half of the description on page 223). In addition, “Lutjanus rupestris” [= Ctenolabrus rupestris (Linnaeus 1758)], “Lutj. norvegicus” [= Lutjanus norwegicus Bloch 1791, a junior synonym of Symphodus melops (Linnaeus 1758); see Fricke et al. 2020], “Crenilabrus” (= Crenilabrus Oken 1817, a junior synonym of Symphodus Rafinesque 1810; see Fricke et al. 2020) and “Epibulus” (= Epibulus Cuvier 1815), and latter half description of “Labrus julis” [= Coris julis (Linnaeus 1758)] are also shortly described on the same page. However, Oken (1842) did not specify which description on page 222 is associated with Insidiator. Whitley (1930) recognized the association of Insidiator Oken and S. insidiator by using the term tautotype, meaning the type of a genus whose species-group name is identical in spelling to the genus-group name (see Evenhuis 2008, for example), for the latter; and thus, it could be interpreted that he recognized Insidiator insidiator (Pallas 1770), combining the generic name Insidiator Oken and specific name insidiator, and regarding the latter to be the type species of the former. However, the tautonymy was only an assumption, without evidence that Oken (1842) intended to associate Insidiator with insidiator, because it is also possible to combine Insidiator, and rupestris or norvegicus (correctly norwegicus) or that Insidiator in the index only referred to the specific name in the index.

ICZN (1999: Art. 12) rules on the availability of names published before 1931. Because Oken (1842) does not include a description or definition of Insidiator, an indication is needed for its availability (Art. 12.1). ICZN (1999: Art. 12.2.1) requires “a bibliographic reference to previously published description or definition” as indication. However, as mentioned above, Oken (1842) showed only volume and page numbers on which the name of Insidiator is presented, but did not associate the generic name with a description on page 222 in Oken (1836). Thus, Oken (1842) lacks “bibliographic reference” to a description. Several other criteria regarding availability, as specified in the ICNZ (Arts. 12.2.2, 12.2.3, 12.2.4, 12.2.6, 12.2.7 and 12.2.8), are not germane to nomenclatural issues concerning Insidiator. Art. 12.2.5, although pertinent, does not apply, because no clear association of Insidiator with the specific name(s) can be found in Oken (1842). Accordingly, because Insidiator Oken does not satisfy any of the criteria ICZN specifies for availability, we regard Insidiator Oken to be an unavailable name.

Oken (1836) described Sparus insidiator just below the description and name of Epibulus. Epibulus had been recognized as a monotypic genus including only E. insidiator until its second member Epibulus brevis Carlson, Randall and Dawson 2008 was described (see Carlson et al. 2008). It can be argued that Oken (1842) associated Epibulus with Sparus insidiator, although he did not use the name “Epibulus insidiator”. Likewise, Lutjanus rupestris and L. norwegicus were also described just below the description and name of Crenilabrus, a genus previously established by Oken (1817), also without clear association to a genus Insidiator. Consequently, there is little justification for the establishment of a new genus to include S. insidiator, L. rupestris and/or L. norwegicus.

It should also be noted here that the specific names were frequently capitalized in “Allgemeine Naturgeschichte für Alle Stände” and the universal index [e.g., “Melanurus” for Sparus melanurus (Oken, 1836: 229; Oken, 1842: 256)]. Consequently, it would set an unworkable precedent to accept names from Oken (1842) where there is no clear evidence of the name “Insidiator” being used as a genus. “Sparus insidiator” appears as a species name in the universal index of Oken (1842: 392) (misspelled “insidator” under “Sparus”). Also, Oken (1842) often listed genera in the universal index, followed by species in that genus in lowercase; no species names follow “Insidiator” (p. 199). However, “Zeus insidiator” [= Deveximentum insidiator (Bloch 1787)], lacking capitalization of the specific name, is listed in both Oken (1836: 207) and Oken (1842: 463) (but misspelled “insidator” in Oken 1842), suggesting that the use of capitals in specific names was not consistent.

As a result, this study concludes that Insidiator in Oken (1842) was published by error and/or inconsistency by Oken himself or the publisher, although the name is capitalized and interpreted to be a generic name with Oken’s (1842) unintentional publication.

Prior to the publication of Oken (1842), Oken (1836: 413) also listed Insidiator as “Insidiator 221.” in the index. However, no names of “Insidiator” or “insidiator” are shown on page 221. In addition, no descriptions, definitions or indications for Insidiator Oken 1836 were presented in Oken (1836) as in Oken (1842). Therefore, Insidiator Oken 1836 is also regarded as an unavailable name, although “221” in Oken (1836: 413) can be recognized as a mistake, which should have been “222”, and he did not intend to establish the genus as Oken (1842) from the same reason mentioned above.

Cloquet’s Filou and “Insidiator”. Although Whitley (1930) also stated that “See also Cloquet’s articles on “Filou” and “Insidiator””, the use of “insidiator” was treated somewhat differently by early French naturalists, relating to specific names of two separate species, Sparus insidiator (= Epibulus insidiator) and Cottus insidiator Forsskål 1775 [= junior synonym of Platycephalus indicus (Linnaeus 1758); see Fricke et al. 2020]. Joseph Hippolyte Cloquet (1787–1840) was an anatomist who was in charge of reptiles and fishes in “Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles” edited by Frédéric Cuvier and published in 61 volumes from 1816 to 1845. In the volume 17 of the Dictionary, Cloquet’s (1820: 53) discussion of Filou clearly indicates that Filou refers to Epibulus including Sparus (as sparus) insidiator. Thus, it is apparent that Cloquet (1820) treated insidiator as a specific name. Subsequently, in the volume 23 of the Dictionary, Cloquet (1822b) defined “INSIDIATOR” as “(Ichthyol.) The authors have designated this Latin name for the fish that others have called imposteur in French. See Filou” [translated in English by second author (DFH)]. It is likely that this statement contributed to the conclusion by Whitley (1930) that “INSIDIATOR” applied to the genus rather than just the species, although he incorrectly attributed to usage to Oken (1842). However, Cloquet (1822a) also defined “IMPOSTEUR” in the same volume as “(Ichthyol.) Several authors have used this name for sparus insidiator, fish that we have described in this article Filou” (translated by DFH). Therefore, no evidence that the name “INSIDIATOR” was used for a genus by Cloquet (1822b) can be recognized. Bory de Saint-Vincemt (1825) defined French vernacular INSIDIATEUR as “POIS. Espèce de Cotte du sous-genre Platycéphale” (pp. 584–585) and IMPOSTEUR as “POIS. Syn. de Filou” (p. 522), clearly distinguishing the two. Under Filou in Bory de Saint-Vincent (1824: 510), Filou is clearly labeled Epibulus.

Amyot’s Insidiator. Whitley (1930) stated that “The generic name Insidiator Jordan & Snyder is perhaps preoccupied by Insidiator Amyot, a non-binominal genus of insects”. Charles Jean-Baptiste Amyot (1799–1866) published serial papers, entitled “Entomologie Française. Rhynchotes. Méthode Mononymique” from 1845 to 1847. As Whitley (1930) stated, this study confirmed that Amyot (1845) showed the name of Insidiator, but these serial publications were non-binominal, but using mononymy (see also Stichel 1962). ICZN (1963) ruled that the publications were placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Works in Zoological Nomenclature and rejected, owing to request by Stichel (1962) (see Kerzhner 2005 and ICZN 2006 for partial correction of pagination). Therefore, the names published by Amyot, including Insidiator Amyot, are unavailable (ICZN 1999: Art. 80.7.2).

Conclusion

Because no preoccupying available names to Insidiator Jordan and Snyder exist, the generic name Insidiator Jordan and Snyder is regarded to be valid, and Suggrundus becomes an unnecessary replacement name and a junior synonym of Insidiator Jordan and Snyder, having the same type species with the latter. It is also noted that Insidiator Jordan and Snyder was in usage until Whitley’s (1930) article (see for example McCulloch 1929).

As mentioned above, Whitley (1930) recognized the combination of the unavailable generic name Insidiator Oken 1842 and available specific name insidiator by using the term tautotype. This satisfies the nomenclatural requirement for availability of the generic names published before 1931(ICZN 1999: Art. 12.2.5). We regard Whitley (1930) to have proposed a new generic name for what was only a specific epithet, insidiator. With Sparus insidiator as the type species, the name Insidiator Whitley effectively dates from Whitley (1930), thus making his usage a junior homonym of Insidiator Jordan and Snyder.

Suggrundus has been recognized to include three species Suggrundus cooperi (Regan 1908), Suggrundus macracanthus (Bleeker 1869) and Suggrundus meerdervoortii (Bleeker 1860) (e.g., Imamura 1996). Therefore, their valid names are changed to Insidiator cooperi, Insidiator macracanthus and Insidiator meerdervoortii, respectively.

Whitley (1930) and Prokofiev (2019) established Repotrudis to I. macracanthus and Seychelliceps to I. cooperi, respectively. However, because I. macracanthus and I. cooperi were inferred to form a monophyletic clade with I. meerdervoortii, a senior synonym of Platycephalus rudis Günther 1877, being the type species of Insidiator Jordan and Snyder (see Imamura 1996), this study synonymizes the two genera under Insidiator Jordan and Snyder, having priority over them, as Imamura (1996) did to Repotrudis.

The nomenclatural results of this study are summarized as:

Insidiator Oken 1836, an unavailable name;

Insidiator Oken 1842, an unavailable name;

Insidiator Amyot 1845, an unavailable name;

Insidiator Jordan and Snyder 1900, an available and valid name (type species: Platycephalus rudis Günther 1877, a junior synonym of Platycephalus meerdervoortii Bleeker 1860);

Insidiator Whitley 1930, an available name (type species: Sparus insidiator Pallas 1770), but a junior homonym of Insidiator Jordan and Snyder 1900;

Suggrundus Whitley 1930, an available name (type species: Platycephalus rudis Günther 1860), but an unnecessary replacement name and a junior synonym of Insidiator Jordan and Snyder 1900;

Repotrudis Whitley 1930, an available name (type species: Platycephalus macracanthus Bleeker 1869), but a junior synonym of Insidiator Jordan and Snyder 1900; and

Seychelliceps Prokofiev2019, an available name (type species: Platycephalus cooperi Regan 1908), but a junior synonym of Insidiator Jordan and Snyder 1900.