The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature would be greatly 
helped by any comments on this proposal. Please address them to: 
The Executive Secretary, ICZN, BM(NH), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK 
114 Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 44(2) June 1987 
Case 2415 
Holothuria arenicola Semper, 1868 (Echinodermata, Holothuroidea): 
proposed conservation of the specific name 
David L. Pawson 
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 
D.C.20.%%?, f/.S./l. 
John E. Miller 
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc., Fort Pierce, Florida, 33450 
Abstract. The purpose of this application is the conservation of the well established 
name Holothuria arenicola Semper, 1868, for a burrowing holothurian, by the 
suppression of the senior synonym Holothuria humilis Selenka, 1867. 
1. Holothuria arenicola Semper, 1868 (p. 81) was originally described from the 
Philippines. This distinctive burrowing holothurian is very common throughout the 
tropical regions of the world, and it is one of the best known tropical shallow water 
species. The specific name arenicola Semper, 1868 is universally accepted, and has 
been used in a large number of systematic and ecological publications. A list of ten 
representative works is held in the Secretariat offices. 
2. Holothuria maculata Brandt, 1835 is a senior synonym of//, arenicola but it is also 
a junior primary homonym of//, maculata Chamisso & Eysenhardt, 1821 and //. 
maculata Lesueur, 1824. It is therefore invalid and has been replaced by the oldest 
available synonym, which is H. humilis Selenka, 1867. 
3. Selenka (1867, p. 339) briefly described Holothuria humilis from Hawaii. Lampert 
(1885, p. 70), Theel (1886, p. 640) and Fisher (1907, p. 640) based their diagnoses of 
H. humilis on Selenka's original (1867) description; none of these authors examined 
Selenka's type specimens, and, as far as we have been able to determine, only they 
seemed to regard H. humilis as a distinct species. Fisher (1907) noted that Hawaii 
constituted the only recorded locality for H. humilis, and in the same paper recorded 
H. arenicola from Hawaii for the first time. 
4. Deichmann (1930, p. 68), in her revision of the western Atlantic holothurians, 
noted that 'synonymous with this species [//. arenicola] are H. humilis Selenka from 
Hawaii.. .' She made no further comment on this topic. 
5. We have examined the holotype of H. humilis Selenka, 1867 (Museum of 
Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Catalogue No. 632), and we agree with 
Deichmann that it is synonymous with H. arenicola Semper, 1868. In all currently 
accepted systematic characters, Selenka's holotype falls within the range of variation of 
H. arenicola. Thus, Selenka's (1867) name Holothuria humilis threatens the well- 
established name H. arenicola Semper, 1868. 

Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 44(2) June 1987 115 
6. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature is accordingly 
asked: 
(1) to use its plenary powers to suppress the specific name humilis Selenka, 1867, as 
published in the binomen Holothuria humilis, for the purposes of the Principle of 
Priority but not for those of the Principle of Homonymy; 
(2) to place on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology the name arenicola 
Semper, 1868, as published in the binomen Holothuria arenicola; 
(3) to place on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Specific Names in Zoology 
the name humilis Selenka, 1867, as published in the binomen Holothuria humilis, 
and as suppressed in (1) above. 
References 
Deichmann, E. 1930. The holothurians of the western part of the Atlantic Ocean. Bulletin of the 
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, 71(3): 41-266. 
Fisher, W. K. 1907. The holothurians of the Hawaiian Islands. Proceedings of the United Stales 
National Museum, 32: 637-744. 
Lampert, K. 1885. Die Seewalzen (Holothuroidea), part 3, i + 312pp, in Semper, C. G. Reisenim 
Archipelder Philippinen II, vol. 4. Leipzig and Wiesbaden. 
Selenka, E. 1867. Beitrage zur Anatomic und Systcmatik der Holothurien. Zeitschrift fiir 
Wissenschaftliche Zoologie, 17: 291-250. 
Semper, C. G. 1868. Holothurien. Reisen im Archipel der Philippinen II, vol. 1, i + 288 pp. Leipzig 
and Wiesbaden. 
Theel, H. 1886. Report on the Holothuroidea. Part III. Report of the scientific results of the 
voyage of HMS Challenger (Zoology, Part 39), vol. 14. London, Edinburgh and Dublin. 
Contribution No. 538 of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc., and Contribution 
113 of the Smithsonian Marine Station at Link Port.