Abstract
The purpose of this application, under Article 75.6 of the Code, is to conserve the specific name Cherax tenuimanus Smith, 1912 in its accustomed usage, for a species of freshwater crayfish or ‘marron’, important in the aquaculture industry, particularly in Australia. It has long been recognised that there are two subspecies of C. tenuimanus; in 2002 Austin elevated these to species level and proposed the name Cherax cainii for one. Based on the supposed location of Smith’s (1912) type series of C. tenuimanus, Austin applied the name C. tenuimanus to geographically isolated marron found only in a small catchment in Western Australia, and applied his new name C. cainii to all other marron in Australia and elsewhere. This switching of names is causing confusion since almost all usage of the name C. tenuimanus refers to marron occurring outside the area of Smith’s type series. It is proposed that all previous type fixations for the names Cherax tenuimanus Smith, 1912 and Cherax cainii Austin in Austin & Ryan, 2002 be set aside and neotypes designated for both species to maintain the accustomed usage of the name Cherax tenuimanus.