The status of Aceratherium leakei Deraniyagala

In a paper on Miocene Congo mammals (Hooijer, 1963) I described and figured a number of rhinoceros specimens, including a P4, an M1 and an M3 from the Karugamania region, Lake Albert, Western Rift Valley (pl. 6 fig. 1-3, pl. 7 fig. 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, pl. 8 fig. 2) as Aceratherium acutirostratum (Deraniyagala), an upper incisor from the same region (pl. 7 fig. 2) as Rhinocerotidarum gen. et spec. indet., and an M2 from the Sinda-Mohari region, Lower Semliki area (pl. 8 fig. 4-6) as Aceratherium cf. tetradactylum (Lartet). Later, with rich collections from the East African Miocene available through the courtesy of Dr. L. S. B. Leakey, I corrected some of these identifications, referring the Lake Albert and Sinda upper I and M2 to Brachypotherium heinzelini Hooijer, 1963 (Hooijer, 1966: 142-143).
Now I find that Deraniyagala (1965: 8) has created a new species, named Aceratherium leakei, listing all of the above mentioned teeth as "cotypes", no holotype having been designated among this heterogeneous lot. I hereby designate the P4 from Karugamania (Hooijer, 1963, pl. 6 fig. 1-3) as lectotype. Fortunately, Deraniyagala's naming does not invalidate my new specific name Dicerorhinus leakeyi Hooijer (1966: 122) as it was proposed in a different genus. However, in the present case the creation of a new species appears to be totally unjustified. Let us for convenience tabulate the various identifications as follows: Deraniyagala, Hooijer Hooijer, 1963 1965 1966 P4: Aceratherium acutirostratum A. leakei A. acutirostratum M1: Aceratherium acutirostratum A. leakei A. acutirostratum M3: Aceratherium acutirostratum A. leakei A. acutirostratum