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Farming,
Fisheries & Horticulture
Octopus vulgaris
photo
credit: © Johnny Jensen/JJPhoto
The
names of the economically important edible octopus, Octopus
vulgaris Cuvier, 1797, and squid, Loligo vulgaris Lamarck,
1795, were threatened by long disused senior synonyms. O.
vulgaris, the common octopus, is a coastal species with
a cosmopolitan distribution in temperate and tropical seas.
It is a commercially important species in northeast African,
Atlantic European, Mediterranean and Japanese waters, accounting
for a large percentage of octopus fisheries, with around 100,000
metric tonnes landed annually according to United Nations Food
& Agricultural Organisation’s statistics. The common
squid, L. vulgaris, found in temperate waters from
the North Sea and around the British Isles to the western African
coast, and throughout the Mediterranean Sea, along with L.
forbesi is the main target of squid fisheries on the Atlantic
European coasts. The Commission conserved the specific names
of these two important species and placed them on the Official
Lists. [1997]
Otala punctata
photo
credit: © Bill Frank
The
edible snails Helix lucorum and Otala punctata are
two economically important species of snails in the food industry. H.
lucorum, the ‘striped Roman snail’
or ‘Escargot Turc’ (Turkish snail) makes up a major
part pf the snail market in Europe, with nearly 6000 tonnes being
traded every year. O. punctata, called ‘vaqueta’
in some parts of Spain, is mainly found and consumed in Mediterranean
countries. One of Linneaus’ original type specimens for
the name H. lucorum turned out on careful re-examination
to be O. punctata, making the two names synonyms. The
Commission therefore designated an unmistakable specimen of H.
lucorum to define that species, allowing the current usage
of both specific names to continue. [2002]
A
recent application to the Commission asks that the generic
name Pemphigus Hartig, 1839, for a group of economically
important aphids be conserved by suppression of the older name, Rhizobius.
It is argued that a return to use of the generic name Rhizobius instead
of Pemphigus would cause unnecessary confusion since Pemphigus is
regularly used in combination with 66 specific names. Several
of these are pest species well known to farmers, agronomists
and forestry experts: P. bursarius (lettuce), P.
populitransversus (poplar), P. betae/P. populivenae (sugarbeet), P.
passeki (caraway) and P. phenax (carrots). [2004]
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