Conochitina achabae, a new name for Conochitina concava Achab 1978

In a publication on Late Ordovician chitinozoans from eastern Canada, Achab (1978, p. 9, pl. 2, figs. 16–19) adopted the binomial Conochitina concava for one of her new species. This name, however, is a junior primary homonym of Conochitina concava Umnova (1969, p. 330, pl. 1, figs. 23, 24), a distinctly different species recovered from the Ordovician of the northern Russian Platform. Aicha Achab informed me that Dr. R. Schallreuter had previously brought this problem to her attention, but her attempt in December 1979 to publish a substitute nomen had been stymied by the unfortunate circumstances that have since suspended the journal Palinologia. With the concurrence of Dr. Achab, and in her honor, I propose the new name Conochitina achabae Finger as a replacement for Conochitina concava Achab.

I thank K. N. Kirwan, A. Achab, and F. H. Cramer for helping me to clarify the status of this species and Chevron Oil Field Research Company for publication permission.