A Name Change

The Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee subspecies is now called Pan troglodytes ellioti (formerly, it was classified as Pan troglodytes vellerosus).  The name was changed recently to reflect rules set forth by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a body responsible for the classification and naming of the animal kingdom.  In 1919, the name ‘ellioti’ was chosen by natural historian Paul Matschie for the first chimp specimen found in the Nigeria-Cameroon region, and he chose this name in honour of  Daniel Giraud Elliot, another natural historian who did extensive work on the classification of the primate order.   In 2008, Primatologist John Oates and colleagues recently reviewed the literature and discovered the name 'ellioti' was first name used for a chimp from this region and because of this, 'vellerosus' (the name originally given but actually belonging to a specimen originating in Central Africa) is incorrect.