Corrigendum. Definitive fossil evidence for the extant avian radiation in the Cretaceous.

CLARKE, JULIA; TAMBUSSI, CLAUDIA P.; NORIEGA, JORGE IGNACIO; ERICKSON, GREGORY M.; KETCHAM, RICHARD A.

NATURE

Nature Publishing Group

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2006 vol. 444 p. 480 - 480

0028-0836

We wish to correct an oversight noted1 in one line of our systematic paleontology section, altering this line from ‘‘Vegavis iaai, new taxon’’ to ‘‘Vegavis iaai, new taxa’’ to indicate our intent to name two taxa: one that under the current International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN)2 is to be at the rank of a genus (that is, Vegavis), and the second that is to be at the rank of species (that is, iaai). Article 13.4 of this Code2 specifies that the ‘‘combined description or definition of a new nominal genus or subgenus and a single included new nominal species, if marked by ‘‘gen. nov., sp. nov.’’ or an equivalent expression, is deemed to confer availability on each name under Article 13.1.1’’. This line might also have been written ‘‘Vegavis iaai, gen. nov., sp. nov.’’ Without this emendation, only the species name may be available under the ICZN1. A formal international code of phylogenetic nomenclature that does not require linnaean ranks is under development3 . Even when this is implemented, however, species names should be defined so that they are valid and available under both codes.