The latest batch of taxonomic vandalism by the Wolfgang Wüster gang, has now ripped off the works from three papers, Raymond Hoser published more than a year back in 2018. Their taxonomic vandalism now includes overwriting 1840's names from renowned herpetologist and zoologist, Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger.
Their next batch of 4 illegally coined names, taken by lifting the relevant text and/or data from the earlier Hoser papers and without citation or attribution, in breach of copyright laws, are as follows:
Sundagekko Wood et al. 2019 was created in an act of taxonomic vandalism and is an illegal objective junior synonym of Scelotretus Fitzinger, 1843. The latter name is the only legal and correct name according to the rules of the ICZN.
Japonigekko Wood et al. 2019 was created in an act of taxonomic vandalism and is an illegal objective junior synonym of Sparsuscolotes Hoser, 2018. The latter name is the only legal and correct name according to the rules of the ICZN.
Rhacogekko Wood et al. 2019 was created in an act of taxonomic vandalism and is an illegal objective junior synonym of Alexteescolotes Hoser, 2018. The latter name is the only legal and correct name according to the rules of the ICZN.
Archipelagekko Wood et al. 2019 was created in an act of taxonomic vandalism and is an illegal subjective junior synonym of Extentusventersquamus Hoser, 2018. The latter name is using the taxonomy of all relevant authors, the only legal and correct name according to the rules of the ICZN.
On top of this lot, another thief by the name of Fred Kraus, in the same week in August 2019, also lifted material from the same Hoser papers to illegally try to rename four species formally named by Raymond Hoser in 2018.
Lepidodactylus aignanus Kraus, 2019 created in an act of despicable, unethical and illegal taxonomic vandalism is an illegal objective junior synonym of Shireenhosergecko jarradbinghami Hoser, 2018. The latter name is the only legal and correct name according to the rules of the ICZN.
Lepidodactylus zweifeli Kraus, 2019 created in an act of despicable, unethical and illegal taxonomic vandalism is an illegal objective junior synonym of Bobbottomcolotes bobbottomi Hoser, 2018. The latter name is the only legal and correct name according to the rules of the ICZN.
Lepidodactylus mitchelli Kraus, 2019 created in an act of despicable, unethical and illegal taxonomic vandalism is an illegal objective junior synonym of Adelynhosergecko stevebennetti Hoser, 2018. The latter name is the only legal and correct name according to the rules of the ICZN.
Lepidodactylus kwasnickae Kraus, 2019 created in an act of despicable, unethical and illegal taxonomic vandalism is an illegal objective junior synonym of Adelynhosergecko brettbarnetti Hoser, 2018. The latter name is the only legal and correct name according to the rules of the ICZN.
Taxonomic vandalism is not just against the rules of the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. It is also highly illegal as it breaches copyright laws and several international treaties that pretty much all countries have signed, sich as CITES, RAMSAR and various other science and conservation treaties.
The relevant Hoser papers are:
Hoser, R.T. 2018a. A significant improvement to the taxonomy of the gecko genus Gekko Laurenti, 1768 sensu lato to better reflect morphological diversity and ancient divergence within the group. Australasian J. Herpetol. 38, 6-18.
Hoser, R.T. 2018b. A revised taxonomy of the gecko genus Ptychozoon Kuhl and Van Hasselt, 1822, including the formal erection of two new genera to accommodate the most divergent taxa and description of ten new species. Australasian J. Herpetol. 38, 19–31.
Hoser, R.T., 2018c. A revised taxonomy of the gecko genera Lepidodactylus Fitzinger, 1843, Luperosaurus Gray, 1845 and Pseudogekko Taylor, 1922 including the formal erection of new genera and subgenera to accommodate the most divergent taxa and description of 26 new species. Australasian J. Herpetol. 38, 32–64.
The taxonomic vandalism papers, so far published online only (archived by us - for the purposes of fair comment) and notably not code compliant as it is without zoobank references is appropriately titled by the authors as:
Wood et al. 2019. Parachute geckos free fall into synonymy: Gekko phylogeny, and a new subgeneric classification, inferred from thousands of ultraconserved elements.
bioRxiv preprint first posted online Jul. 28, 2019; doi: http://dx.doi.org
/10.1101/
717520.
and Kraus, F. 2019. New species of Lepidodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from New Guinea and adjacent islands. Zootaxa (online) 4651(2):305-329.