What is the Proper Scientific Name of a Lizard when the Original Latin Is Incorrect?

Anolis winstoni from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anolis_oculatus_at_Coulibistrie-b01.jpg

Peter Mudde writes:

I am chairman  of Lacerta, the Dutch Herpetological society. I also am a regular contributor to the magazine Lacerta. Lacerta  recently made an “Anolis special.” We are preparing a printed English version and we have an internal discussion about the matter below. 

In 1962 the late Skip Lazell, a regular contributor to Anole Annals described Anolis oculatus winstoni, stating: “This subspecies is named for Charles A. Winston, Manager of Woodford Hill Estate, and his family.” In recent years, the epithet “winstoni” has been changed to “winstonorum” as that would be he proper grammatical form if the subspecies was indeed named after Winston and his family (Michels and Bauer, 2004). This was critisized by Dubois (2007).

Now I am not familiar with the latest in zoological taxonomy, but I was under the impression that a name once given could not be corrected afterwards. That’s why the American alligator still misses a character in it’s scientific name.

Indeed, the combination Anolis occulatus winstonorum has emerged several times, mainly in non-scientific literature. Now my question is: how do those working with anole taxonomy refer to this subspecies?  Your verdicts please.

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Jonathan Losos

Professor of Biology and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in Saint Louis. I've spent my entire professional career studying anoles and have discovered that the more I learn about anoles, the more I realize I don't know.

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