Principle of homonymy

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In zoology, the principle of homonymy is one of the guiding principles of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature .

It states that any one name, in one particular spelling, may be used only once (within its group). This will typically be the first-published name; any later name with the same spelling (a homonym) is typically barred from being used. The principles of priority and the first reviser apply here. For family-group names the termination (which is rank-bound) is not taken into account.

In 1777 Johann Reinhold Forster published the name Echidna for a genus of moray eels. This meant that when Georges Cuvier proposed to use this name Echidna in 1797 for the spiny anteater he created a junior homonym. Later, in 1811, Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger published the name Tachyglossus, as a replacement name, or nomen novum , and this is considered to be the valid name for the spiny anteater.

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