Spiraculum Pearson, 1833

Remarks.

The name Spiraculum was nominated by Pearson (1833) with Spiraculum hispidum as a type species in order to replace the name Pterocyclos Benson, 1832. This was an invalid action and Spiraculum was treated as a junior subjective synonym or a subgenus to Pterocyclos by later authors (Benson 1836: 355-358, Pfeiffer 1852: 41, Adams and Adams 1855: 278). Blanford (1863) discovered and described the second species, Spiraculum avanum and thus regarded Spiraculum as a valid genus. Kobelt (1902a: 171) incorrectly proposed a new replacement name, Pearsonia to replace Spiraculum due to the synonym, as he stated in the footnote that "The previously used name Spiraculum was introduced by Pearson as a synonym of Pterocyclos Benson". The name, Pearsonia, was subsequently adopted as a valid genus since then. However, this substitute name was invalid as the name Spiraculum was never preoccupied (ICZN 1999, Art. 60). Thus, Spiraculum is resurrected as a valid genus and Pearsonia is treated as a junior objective synonym to Spiraculum .