On the nomenclatural status of the prokaryotic name Skermania piniformis (Blackall et al. 1989) Chun et al. 1997. Request for an Opinion.

In 1997, the name Skermania piniformis (Blackall et al. 1989) comb. nov. was proposed by Chun et al. on transfer of the species Nocardia pinensis to the newly established genus Skermania as its type species. The appearance of the epithet in S. piniformis was quite different from that in its basonym N. pinensis. This could be seen, at first glance, as an unnecessary epithet change that may render S. piniformis and its generic name Skermania illegitimate according to the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP). But in this paper, the author argues that for this particular case, 'pinensis' and 'piniformis' are better treated as different spellings of the same epithet. And if so, the change from 'pinensis' to 'piniformis' will not give rise to a case of illegitimacy under Rule 41a of the ICNP. Several possible counterarguments are discussed, which are shown to be based on a misinterpretation of the ICNP, particularly in relation to Rule 20a. As this is a non-trivial issue, the author requests a final decision by the Judicial Commission according to Rule 58 of the ICNP. An additional request for clarifying Rule 54 is also made.