Systematic notes on Asian birds. 56. The authorship and date of Turdus rubrocanus

This name from J.E. & G.R. Gray’s 1847 Catalogue of B.H. Hodgson’s materials from Nepal was not based on a description therein, although it is generally cited from there, and correctly so except for the date. It is valid from there only under the little-used Articles 11.6 and 50.7 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (I.C.Z.N., 1999). These rules allow Hodgson’s 1844 nomen nudum to be reintroduced together with an ‘indication’ although still without a description. In exploring the validity of the citation from 1847 we found that over time the rules of nomenclature have changed and that what should not have been acceptable in 1962 and 1964, is now acceptable. We also draw attention to a colour plate that seems likely to have been intended to support the description as new of this thrush, but had to be corrected when it was found that the bird had already been named. In the event this plate appeared about five months after the Catalogue.