Reproduced from the JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY, Vol. 23, No. 4, July, 1949

with the kind permission of SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology, February 2003


NOMENCLATURAL NOTES ON
PULLENIA AND CIBICIDES

R. M. STAINFORTH
Negritos, Peru


Type descriptions of the Foraminifera discussed below have been studied partly in the Catalogue of Foraminifera (Ellis and Messina 1940) and not in the original papers. C. W. Wright very kindly supplied information on Latin and Greek roots and their usage, and later offered useful criticism of the initial draft of this note.

Pullenia duplicata, new name for Pullenia compressiuscula Reuss 1866

The name Pullenia compressiuscula was introduced by Reuss (1866, p. 150) to replace Nonionina quinqueloba Reuss 1851. The change was explicitly stated to be based on the subsequent discovery of specimens identical except for having four instead of five chambers in the final coil. Reuss, evidently a purist, considered the specific name quinqueloba thus invalidated and replaced it by the neutral term compressiuscula. The four-chambered forms were separated as P. compressiuscula var. quadriloba Reuss 1867.

By the International Rules of Zoological Nomenclature a specific name once applied in a correct Linnaean manner cannot be altered merely because its meaning is inept for the organism in question. The case cited above is a clear-cut example of such incorrect re-naming. Therefore the name P. compressiuscula is invalid, the correct form being P. quinqueloba (Reuss 1851). If a different name is to be used for the fourchambered form it should be P. quinqueloba (Reuss) var. quadriloba Reuss 1867. The typical form thus automatically becomes P. q. quinqueloba (Reuss), of which P. compressiuscula var. quinqueloba Reuss 1867 is a synonym.

Cushman and Todd (1943) have listed the known species of Pullenia and discussed P. quinqueloba (Reuss 1851), P. compressiuscula Reuss 1865[1] and P. quadriloba Reuss 1867 (raised from varietal rank) as separate species (op. cit., pp. 10, 12, 15 respectively). Cushman and Todd evidently based their distinction on the first figure named P. compressiuscula (in Reuss 1870) and consider it different from the original P. quinqueloba. Since P. compressiuscula was published as a new name synonymous with P. quinqueloba it cannot stand for a different species. Hence a new name is proposed as follows:

Pullenia Duplicata Stainforth n. nom.

Pullenia compressiuscula of authors (not Reuss 1866, p. 150), e.g.

Cushman and Todd, Cushman. Lab. Foram. Res., Contr., vol. 19, p. 12, pl. 2, figs. 6-13. 1943.

Cushman and Stainforth, loc. cit., Spec. Publ. no. 14, p. 66, pl. 12, fig. 8. 1945.

Cushman and Todd, idem, no. 15, p. 64, pl. 11, fig. 6. 1945.

Cushman and Stone, idem, no. 20, p. 24, pl. 3, fig. 17. 1947.

Cushman and Renz, idem, no. 22, p. 39. 1947.

Cushman and Renz, idem, no. 24, p. 38, pl. 7, fig. 16. 1948.

This new name is proposed because P. compressiuscula is by definition an exact synonym of P. quinqueloba (Reuss). Reuss (1866, 1870) and Cushman and Todd (1943) have commented on the intergradation between the various forms of Pullenia in the Septarian clays of Germany. Much confusion would be eliminated by referring all specimens of compressed, slightly lobulate Pullenias to the single species P. quinqueloba (Reuss). However, if slight differences in dimensional ratios are to be considered valid specific criteria the new name P. duplicata may replace the invalid P. compressiuscula auct.

Gender of Cibicides

The foraminiferal genus Cibicides was erected by Denys de Montfort in 1808, but no clue was given as to the derivation of the name. In applying adjectival names to species of this genus most authors have used a masculine form, but others have used a feminine form and some have been inconsistent, using both forms at one time or another. De Montfort himself referred to “le cibicide,” but his single specific name (refulgens) is inert as to gender. To establish the correct gender of Cibicides the writer referred the question to a friend familiar with the classics and was given the information which follows. Though the root has not been located, -IDES is a common Greek suffix meaning male descendant of. Cibicides might therefore be a proper name, e.g. son of Cibex, taken by de Montfort from some obscure classical allusion, and its gender would be masculine. The gallicized form “le cibicide” may be compared with a feminine derivative used by de Montfort on a later page, viz. “la helenide” from Helenis. It may be noted that a masculine Latin word cibicida exists, meaning ‘bread-eater’ and used as a nickname for a slave, but Cibicides would not be a normal derivative from it, nor is there any clear connection between its meaning and the generic characteristics of Cibicides.

This evidence of masculine gender for Cibicides calls for amendment to the published names of many of its species and varieties. The following are considered the correct forms of some faulty names included in the Catalogue of Foraminifera:

Originally described under Cibicides:

C. carsteni Cushman and Ellisor var. opimus C. and E. 1939

C. choctawensis Cushman and McGlamery var. dorso-involutus Bellen 1946

C. concentricus (Cushman) var. texanus Cushman and Ellisor 1945

C. excavatus Brotzen 1936

C. fioridanus (Cushman) var. compressus Cushman and Renz 1941

C. ihungius Finlay 1940

C. matutinus Franke 1936

C. mexicanus Nuttall 1932

C. perlucidus Nuttall 1932

C. plano-convexus Cushman and Todd 1945

C. pseudoungerianus (Cushman) var. io Cushman 1931

C. refulgens Montfort var. corticatus Earland 1934

C. subspiratus Nuttall 1930

C. tuberculatus Natland 1938

C. venezuelanus Nuttall 1935

Transferred from Anomalina:

C. cicatricosus (Schwager)

C. oligocaenicus (Herrmann)

C. tenuissimus (Nuttall)

C. variolatus (d’Orbigny)

Transferred from Pulvinulina:

C. pygmaeus (Hantken)

Transferred from Nautilus

C. lobatulus (Walker and Jacob)

Transferred from Rotalia:

C. constrictus (Hagenow)

Transferred from Rotalina:

C. involutus (Reuss) ungerianus (d’Orbigny)

Transferred from Truncatulina:

C. americanus (Cushman)

C. basilobus (Cushman)

C. beaumontianus (d’Orbigny)

C. concentricus (Cushman)

C. convexus (Reuss)

C. excolatus (Cushman)

C. fioridanus (Cushman)

C. nucleolus (Sequenza)

C. refulgens Montfort var. conicus (Carsey)

C. robertsonianus (Brady)

C. tenuimargo (Brady) var. altocameratus (Heron-Allen and Earland)

C. vermiculatus (d’Orbigny)

In the species C. advena (d’Orbigny), C. nephridium Tolmachoff 1934, C. pachyderma (Rzehak) and C. padella Jennings 1936 the specific name is a noun correctly used in apposition to the generic substantive.

REFERENCES

Cushman, J. A. and Todd, R., 1943, The genus Pullenia and its species. Cushman Lab. Foram. Res., Contr., vol. 19, pt. 1, pp. 1-23. Sharon, Mass.

Denys de Montfort, Pierre, 1808, Conchyliologie systématique et classification méthodique des coquilles. Tome 1, p. 123. Paris.

Ellis, Brooks F. and Messina, Angelina R., 1940 et seq., Catalogue of Foraminifera. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Spec. Publ. New York.

Reuss, 1851, Ueber die fossilen Foraminiferen und Entomostraceen der Septarienthone der Umgegend von Berlin. Deutsch. Geol. Ges., Zeitschr., bd. 3, p. 71. Berlin.

—, 1866, Die Foraminiferen, Anthozoen und Bryozoen des deutschen Septarienthones. K. Akad. Wiss. Wien., Math-Naturw. Cl., Denkschr., bd. 25, abt. 1, p. 150. Vienna.

—, 1867, Die fossile Fauna der Steinsalzablagerung von Wieliczka in Galizien. Idem, Sitzber., bd. 55, abt. 1, p. 87. Vienna.

—, 1870, Die Foraminiferen des Septarienthones von Pietzpuhl. Idem, Sitzber., bd. 62, abt. 1, p. 484. Vienna.



[1] The reference is given at the end of this note under 1866, following Ellis and Messina (1940).