CORRECTING THE NAMES OF TWO HAEMOGREGARINA SPP. FROM LIZARDS IN EGYPT

Area of Science:

• Zoological nomenclature
• Parasitology
• Herpetology

Background:

• Two haemogregarine "species" names, Haemogregarina tarentannulari and Haemogregarina rawashi, were cited but based on an unpublished manuscript.
• This violates the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) regarding publication criteria.

Purpose of the Study:

• To suppress invalid "species" names and introduce new valid names based on the Principle of Priority.
• To correctly classify haemogregarine parasites found in Egyptian geckos.

Main Methods:

• Review of cited "species" names and their publication status according to ICZN rules.
• Application of the Principle of Priority to establish new combinations.
• Morphological and phylogenetic analysis (18S rDNA) to confirm species reassignment.

Main Results:

• The names Haemogregarina tarentannulari and Haemogregarina rawashi are suppressed as invalid.
• Hepatozoon rawashi n. comb. is proposed for a parasite in Ptyodactylus hasselquisiti.
• Haemogregarina tarentannulari (Mohammed and Ramadan in Saoud et al., 1995) is proposed for a parasite in Tarentola annularis, later identified as a junior synonym of Hepatozoon annularis.

Conclusions:

• Suppression of invalid names ensures taxonomic stability.
• Correct classification of haemogregarines in geckos is established.
• Phylogenetic data supports the reassignment of a species to the genus Hepatozoon.