Nomenclatural acts in zoological nomenclature

The present work proposes a precise formal definition and an expansion of the concept of ‘nomenclatural act’ which is present in the Code but not clearly delimitated from other related concepts, and provides a list of the published statements that correspond to this concept, a terminology for this and related acts, as well as for information affecting zoological nomenclature. These technical terms will be useful for unambiguous designation of the concepts of zoological nomenclature related to this concept, which are denoted in the Code by ‘common language’ terms having often widely different meanings. They will also be of great help for a future computerisation of the Rules of the Code, which will be possible only if distinct concepts are identified and pointed to by distinct terms. An important outcome of the present work is that genuine nomenclatural acts (onomatergies), as well as statements about nomenclatural status (cataphasy), acquire nomenclatural availability (i.e., existence) only if promulgated in paper or electronic publications complying with Article 8 of the Code, but cannot be made available online in electronic databases or other labile documents failing to comply with these Rules as revised in 2012.