Rafmesque. one of the most important naturalists in the 19th century, considered the ge- 

 nus Cyprinus of Linnaeus beeing too diverse and thus split it into several genera based 

 on "the position of the dorsal fin and the vent, the number of rays to the abdominal fins" 

 (Rafmesque 1820a, b, 1889). Among these genera, three occur in Europe and one (Min- 

 nilus) in North America (Rafinesque 1820a, b, 1899).' Phoximis, a European genus, dif- 

 fers from the other two European ones, Dobula and Alburnus 2 , in "ten abdominal rays and 

 no appendage" (Rafinesque 1820a, 1889). 



In the same papers, Rafinesque (1820a. b. 1889) described the subgenus Chrosomus of 

 Luxilus for the "redbelly shiner" from Ohio River, and named the shiner as Luxilus erythro- 

 gaster. However, Rafinesque also suggested that the subgenus Chrosomus might also be 

 considered as a genus. Therefore, the name for this "redbelly shiner" was often cited as 

 Chrosomus erythrogaster (Rafinesque) (e.g., Cross 1967) or Chrosomus erythrogaster Ra- 

 fmesque (e.g., Eddy & Underhill 1974). [Both are synonyms of Phoxinus erythrogaster 

 (Rafinesque), see below]. This might be an explanation why both C. erythrogaster (Rafi- 

 nesque) and C. erythrogaster Rafinesque appear in the literature (cf. species account of 

 Phoxinus erythrogaster), though the correct citation should be Chrosomus erythrogaster 

 (Rafinesque), not C. erythrogaster Rafinesque. 



A more complicated and confusing problem was raised by the dates of the publications 

 of Rafinesque (1820a, b; 1889). All of the literature known cited Rafinesque 1820b:45 as 

 the original description of Phoxinus Rafinesque, Rafinesque 1820b:47 as the original de- 

 scription of Chrosomus, and Rafinesque 1820b:47 as the original description of Chroso- 

 mus erythrogaster (Rafinesque) (e.g., Starnes & Starnes 1980a, Howes 1985). However, 

 according to the zoological nomenclature rules, the correct citation should be the one pu- 

 blished first. Rafinesque's paper on the fishes of Ohio River, in which Phoxinus, Chro- 

 somus, and Chrosomus erythrogaster were originally described, was published three times 

 under two different titles (i.e., Rafinesque 1820a, b, 1889). Rafinesque (1820a) was pu- 

 blished in the journal "The Western Review and Miscellaneous Magazine, a monthly pu- 

 blication" as one of a series of nine papers under the title "Fishes of the River Ohio" 

 published from December 1819 to December 1820 (Eschmeyer 1990). (This magazine was 

 published in Lexington, Kentucky, only from 1818 to 1820.) The paper originally descri- 

 bing Phoxinus, Chrosomus, and Chrosomus erythrogaster (Rafinesque 1820a) was the 

 fourth in the series and was published in May 1820. Rafinesque (1820b) was published 

 on 22 May 1820, as a separate monograph titled "Ichthyologia Ohiensis, or natural hi- 

 story of the fishes inhabiting the River Ohio and its tributary streams, preceded by a phy- 

 sical description of the Ohio and its branches." The contents of Rafinesque's papers 

 (1820a, b) are the same. Rafinesque (1889) consists of 250 copies reprinted from Rafi- 

 nesque (1820b). We do not have any evidence to show whether Rafinesque (1820b) was 

 published earlier than Rafinesque (1820a) because there is no date for Rafinesque (1820a). 



') Minnilus, a synonym of Notropis (Eschmeyer 1990: 248), was misspelled as Minulus Rafinesque, 

 1820a:236 and Minnulus Rafinesque, 1820a:237. 



: ) Alburnus Catesby, 1771 in Sciaenidae is not an available name because it was published in a re- 

 jected work (Eschmeyer 1990:18). 



