Actiniscus sirius

sirius (Ehrenberg, 1844a ex Schütt, 1891, p.20) Lentin and Williams, 1973, p.11.  Holotype: Ehrenberg, 1854, pl.18, fig.59; Schütt, 1891, fig.11.  Originally Actiniscus (name not validly published), subsequently Dictyocha (name not validly published; Appendix A), thirdly Distephanus (name not validly published; Appendix A), fourthly Gymnaster, fifthly (and now) Actiniscus.  In pre-1998 editions of this index, Actiniscus sirius was considered not validly published and attributed to Ehrenberg (1854), who apparently did not provide a description.  However, Schütt (1891, p.20) provided both a description and an illustration for Gymnaster sirius.  In his synonymy list, Schütt indicated that the name Actiniscus sirius was first used by Ehrenberg (1844a, p.68), was subsequently illustrated by Ehrenberg (1854, pl.18, fig.59) as Dictyocha sirius, and was cited by Haeckel (date not specified) as Distephanus sirius.  Pending verification of these three earlier records, Williams et al. (1998, p.27) considered Schütt (1891) to be the validating author of this name.  Dumitrică (1973, p.822) considered Dictyocha (now Actiniscus) pentasterius to be the questionable taxonomic senior synonym of this species.  N.I.A.  Age: Miocene.

Parent: Actiniscus