Proposals to provide for registration of new names and nomenclatural acts (276-279)

The Melbourne Congress of 2011 authorized a Special Committeeon Registration of Algal and Plant Names (including fossils), whichwas established the following year (Wilson in Taxon 61: 878–879.2012). Its explicit mandate was “to consider what would be involved inregistering algal and plant names (including fossils), using a procedureanalogous to that for fungal names agreed upon in Melbourne andincluded in the Code as Art. 42”, but expectations at the NomenclatureSection in Melbourne went farther than that. There was the hope thatregistration systems for at least some of the main groups would soonbe set up, to be used and tested on a voluntary basis and, if found tobe generally accepted, would persuade the subsequent Congress inShenzhen, in 2017, to declare registration of new names an additionalrequirement for valid publication.