Medical and Veterinary Entomology (1992) 6, 309

Book Review

ARTHROPODS OF MEDICAL AND VETERINARY IMPORTANCE: A CHECKLIST OF PREFERRED NAMES AND ALLIED TERMS. Compiled by A. R. Pittaway. C.A.B. International, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 SDE, 1991. 178pp. 218. ISBN 0 85198 741 9.

The only surprise about this essential list is that no such compilation has been published previously. About 7500 names of genera and species are given from the cumulative indices of the Review of Medical and Veterinary Ento- mology, previously entitled Review of Applied Entomology, Series B, from 1913 to date. Hence this checklist contains the scientific names of virtually all arthropods of medical or veterinary importance.

The list is intended ‘to introduce a measure of consistency to the usage of such names’. The term ‘preferred name’ is not explained but seems to concede that this checklist has no formal status: it simply comprises names as they have been accepted and used editorially by the CABI. There is no reference to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature as the system of binomial nomenclature, nor any mention of the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature as the place to settle arguments about names.

The main checklist covers Arthropods (pp. 1-152) including chilopods, copepods, decapods, insects, mites, pentastomids, spiders, ticks and so forth in one long alphabetic sequence. Additionally, six extra sections give selected names of relevant taxa in other faunal groups, viz: pathogenic microorganisms (pp. 153- 162) comprising bacteria (including those such as Bacillus thuringiensis used for biocontrol purposes), protozoa and Rickettsiae; the main viruses transmitted by arthropods (99 entries); entomogenous fungi (101 entries); helminths (7 pages); larvivorous fish (67 entries) and some other organisms, but no names of any flora.

Beside each name of a genus or species are given its Family, Order and supra-generic groups as appropriate. The name of the author is included with each specific epithet, but not with genus names. For scientific names

which are not ‘preferred’, because they are invalid or do not have priority under the Code, the list says ‘see . , . . ’ and gives the preferred name. The layout is readily under- stood at a glance. Surprisingly, no dates of publication are cited in support of the priorities accorded.

Users are invited to notify CABI of any mistakes detected. We noted a few errors of typesetting (e.g. the penultimate line on-p. 11 has a misplaced name: franciscanus) or of taxonomy (e.g. Sasatrombicula mis- takenly placed in the Diptera on p. 125, instead of Acari: Trombiculidae). It would be appropriate to include Spiro- plasmas (vide Humphery-Smith et al., 1991: MVE, 5, 229-232) in future editions. The checklist will require frequent updating if it is to be trusted and maintain its reliability. Additions and revisions to nomenclature and biosystematics are sometimes difficult to accommodate, such as the recent unanimously approved suppression (ICZN Opinion 1644) of the familiar name Culex peus Speiser, 1904, in order to avoid confusion between Cx stigmatosoma Dyar, 1907, and Cx thriambus Dyar, 1921, among North American mosquitoes (vide B. F. Eldridge & R. E. Harbach, 1992, Journal ofthe American Mosquito Control Association, Vol. 8, pp. 104-105). Hence the previously preferred, if unpronounceable, name Cx peus is now invalid, requiring changes to the relevant entries on p. 38 of the list. Even so, this checklist is going to make life much easier for editors and authors alike, whenever the classification, spelling or authorship of a scientific name needs to be checked. We shall rely on it heavily for this journal.

GRAHAM WHITE & ALAN WALKER