Naming noble chafers

The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has just ruled to suppress the senior name Aleurostictus for Gnorimus, and only use Gnorimus from now on, for species such as our rare noble chafer. In 1827 Kirby described a new taxon called Aleurostictus. The following year 1828 Le Peletier described Gnorimus, based on the same taxon, apparently not knowing that it had already got a name. Le Peletier's work became better known, and the scientific community began to refer to the 'beast with two names' as Gnorimus (the junior name) rather than Aleurostictus (the senior name). 150 years later, the error was noticed. At this stage the name Gnorimus was in universal use and the name Aleurosticus was forgotten. Finally a successful application was put to the Commission to suppress Aleurostictus, and the use of the junior, but prevalent, name Gnorimus to be used from now on. Anyone interested in this subject should check out the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, which 'seeks to promote stability in the names of animals': It is a unique and incredibly valuable publication

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/iczn/The_Bulletin.htm