Here is a specimen of a fossil land plant of the species Protopteridium hostinense from the Devonian of the Czech Republic. This species is most often described under the name Rellimia hostinense.
The species Protopteridium hostinense was described in 1880 by Krejčí based on finds from Bohemia and represents the type species of the genus Protopteridium. In the following decades, however, confusion arose because various authors described similar plants under other generic names such as Milleria or Rellimia, and some even claimed that Krejčí’s genus had been published invalidly.
These doubts were convincingly resolved in 1982 by Matten & Schweitzer. They demonstrated that Krejčí’s description fully complies with the nomenclatural rules, that the term “provisional” in his text was meant purely linguistically, and that Protopteridium clearly has priority over all later names.
Initially, Protopteridium was assigned to the taxon Milleria (Lang, 1926). However, this taxon is invalid for two reasons: first, because the name Milleria had already been used in the plant kingdom for Milleria quinqueflora Linnaeus, 1753. Therefore, the genus Rellimia was introduced in 1973 by S. Leclercq & P.M. Bonamo. Since the original description of Protopteridium meets all systematic requirements, this detour through the nomenclature is now considered resolved.
Thus, Protopteridium hostinense Krejčí, 1880 is the correct and valid name, while Milleria and Rellimia are simply younger synonyms.
Krejčí, J. (1880). Protopteridium hostinense. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 54: 785–799.
Lang, W. H. (1926). Milleria, a new Devonian genus. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 54: 785–799.
Leclercq, S. & Bonamo, P. M. (1971). A study of the fructification of Milleria (Protopteridium) thomsonii. Palaeontographica B, 136: 83–114.
Leclercq, S. & Bonamo, P. M. (1973). Rellimia, new genus. Taxon. Matten, L. C. & Schweitzer, H.-J. (1982). On the correct name for Protopteridium (Rellimia) thomsonii. Taxon, 31: 344–350.
Bonamo, P. M. (1983). Rellimia thomsonii: nomenclatural discussion. Taxon, 32: 449–473. |
