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As I read the ICZN an allotype does not appear to be part of the type series (or not necessarily to be part of it):
Recommendation 72A. Use of the term "allotype". The term "allotype" may be used to indicate a specimen of opposite sex to the holotype; an "allotype" has no name-bearing function.
Allotype designations are, as far as I am aware, always performed at the time a species is described (by historical convention, not by any mandate of the Code, since the Code does not regulate them), and the specimen selected as allotype is therefore inevitably part of the type series; thus, by definition, a paratype. To date, of several hundred museum specimens I have encountered labeled as "allotypes," each has been part of the type series, and I have never once seen a literature designation of an allotype anywhere other than in an original description. Admittedly, I cannot demonstrate that this is true outside of the Insecta, and if anyone knows of examples to the contrary, I would be very interested to know the citation. I will, however, alter the text to reflect that this is not a formal definition, as you are correct that it is not.
138.23.134.11918:20, 6 October 2006 (UTC)reply
The point here is "is therefore inevitably part of the type series". It looks to me that an author is allowed to designate an allotype while at the same time explicitly excluding it from the type series. I don't know why he should do so, but he could, couldn't he?
Brya10:22, 8 October 2006 (UTC)reply
Also, if it is true that it "is almost without exception designated in the original description," then there are some exceptions, and in those cases it won't be a paratype, will it?
Yes, a user could designate an allotype from material that is not part of the type series, but this almost never happens. That is precisely the point of including allotype here, in the treatment of paratype. It is very, very rare for an allotype to not also be a paratype. I know of no such cases, but I'm certain some must exist, somewhere. That's why I said the two terms are related rather than saying they are synonymous. It hardly seems worth designating a separate article to allotype, given that it will not reduce the amount of text in this article.
In an encyclopedia detail is seldom "far too much". We strive to explain concepts not in the minimum of words but in adequate terms. Complicated subjects, such as this one, should neither be avoided nor treated superficially.--
MWAK (
talk)
11:36, 25 July 2009 (UTC)reply