Bull. nat. Hist. Mus. Lond. (Geol.) 53(1): 1-9 
Issued 26 June 1997 
The status of ‘Plesictis’ croizeti, ‘Plesictis’ 
gracilis and ‘Lutra’ minor: synonyms of the 
early Miocene viverrid Herpestides SATS 
MIECZYSLAW WOLSAN 
Instytut Paleobiologii PAN, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa, Poland 
MICHAEL MORLO 
Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany \ 
(Mammalia, Carnivora) 
AUG IDA 
PRESENTED 
PALAEONTOLOGY Lt LIBRARY | 
SYNOPSIS. 
The reputed musteloid carnivorans *Plesictis’ croizeti Pomel, 1847, ‘Plesictis’ gracilis Pomel, 1853, and ‘Lutra’ 
minor Lydekker, 1885 are recognized as junior subjective synonyms of the European early Miocene (Agenian) viverrid 
carnivoran Herpestides antiquus (de Blainville, 1842). The name ‘Plesictis’ gracilis is a junior objective synonym of ‘Plesictis’ 
croizeti, whose type locality is identified as Langy, of Agenian age, central France. The type locality of ‘Lutra’ minor is Mainz- 
Mombach, ofAgenian age, western Germany. The taxonomic histories of ‘Plesictis’croizeti, ‘Plesictis’ gracilis, and ‘*Lutra’minor 
are reviewed, synonymies are provided, and the holotypes described and figured. 
INTRODUCTION 
The name-bearing types of the reputed musteloid carnivorans 
Plesictis’croizeti Pomel, 1847, ‘Plesictis’ gracilis Pomel, 1853, and 
‘Lutra’ minor Lydekker, 1885 constitute a part of the unique collec- 
tions of The Natural History Museum, London. The specimens have 
not previously been adequately described, and only the holotype of 
‘Plesictis’ croizeti Pomel, 1847 has been figured. The taxonomic 
histories of the specific names given to them are highly confused. 
| The present paper provides comprehensive descriptions of the 
holotypes of ‘Plesictis’ croizeti, ‘Plesictis’ gracilis, and ‘Lutra’ 
minor, and also reports the complicated taxonomic histories of these 
names, with evidence that they are all junior synonyms of the 
Buropean early Miocene viverrid carnivoran Herpestides antiquus 
(de Blainville, 1842). 
| The following abbreviations are used in this paper: BMNH and 
NHM, Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum 
formerly British Museum (Natural History), London; /CZN, Inter- 
hational Code of Zoological Nomenclature (The International 
Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1985); NMB, Natural 
distory Museum, Basle; SMF, Department of Palaeozoology, The 
Senckenberg Research Institute and Museum, Frankfurt am Main. 
PLESICTIS’ CROIZETI AND ‘PLESICTIS’ 
GRACILIS 
| 
“AXONOMIC HISTORY. Pomel (1847) introduced the specific name 
-lesictis Croizeti to designate the partial mandible illustrated in fig. 
| of his pl. 4. Although neither description nor definition accompa- 
jied that name, it has nevertheless been made available by indication 
haccordance withArticle 12 (b, 7) of the JCZN. Pomel’s fi g.4of pl. 
|, as well as its reproductions published in Bronn & Roemer (1856: 
I 60, fig. 14b), Pictet (1857: pl. 4, fig. 8), and Viret (1929: text-fig. 
3), represent the reversed mirror image of the original that is stored 
) The Natural History Museum, 1997 
in the NHM under register number 26702. As noted in the old 
vertebrate register at the NHM, this name-bearing type of ‘Plesictis’ 
croizeti was purchased by the British Museum (Natural History) in 
June 1851 from ‘M. Pomel’ (M.J. Pomel according to Lydekker 
1885: xiii). 
In 1853 (reprinted in 1854) Pomel proposed the new name 
Plesictis gracilis for the partial mandible figured by him in 1847 
under the name Plesictis Croizeti, and he incorrectly applied the 
latter name to a skull of a mustelid carnivoran. Because both specific 
names were based on the same type specimen, they are objective 
synonyms according to Article 61 (c, iv) of the JCZN. The senior 
synonym, ‘Plesictis’ croizeti Pomel, 1847, is the valid name of the 
taxon in accordance with the Principle of Priority (Article 23 of the 
ICZN). 
The taxonomic status of ‘Plesictis’ croizeti (=‘Plesictis’ gracilis) 
was further complicated by Filhol (1879a—b) who considered 
‘Plesictis’ croizeti and ‘Plesictis’ gracilis to be distinct varieties of 
Plesictis robusta Pomel, 1853, which is indeed a synonym of the 
musteloid carnivoran Amphictis antiqua Pomel, 1853. Although the 
type specimen of both ‘Plesictis’ croizeti and ‘Plesictis’ gracilis had 
already been figured or briefly described in Pomel (1847, 1853, 
1854), Gervais (1852b, 1859), Bronn (1856), Bronn & Roemer 
(1856) and Pictet (1857), and the British Museum had been explic- 
itly indicated by Gervais (1852b, 1859) as the institution where the 
holotype had been kept, Filhol (1879a—b) was, nevertheless, appar- 
ently unaware of its existence. At any rate, he made no mention of 
this specimen. Instead, he assigned a mustelid skull to ‘Plesictis’ 
croizeti and two musteloid partial mandibles to ‘Plesictis’ gracilis, 
believing that the characters of one of those mandibles, illustrated in 
fig. 5 of his pl. 22, corresponded to those of the holotype of 
‘Plesictis’ gracilis (his p. 128: ‘J'ai trouvé dans la collection du 
musée de Lyon un maxillaire inférieur possédant des caractéres 
correspondants a ceux que M. Pomel avait fait connaitre comme 
devant servir a faire distinguer spécifiquement le Plesictis gracilis’). 
In addition, in his quotations of Pomel’s (1853, 1854) descriptions of 
“Plesictis croizeti’ and ‘Plesictis’ lemanensis Pomel, 1853, Filhol 
(1879a—b) mistakenly reversed the two descriptions, giving Pomel’s 
