White et al. (2019) described a new species of whaler shark represented by only three specimens from South-east Asia, all collected prior to 1934. They proposed the nomen Carcharhinus obsolerus with the justification of: "The specific name is Latin for 'extinct' (obsolerus) in allusion to the fact that the species has not been recorded in many decades." Dubois Séret (2019) stated that the epithet obsolerus was "doubtless" an incorrect spelling which must be corrected to obsoletus. However, the Dubois Séret (2019) publication becomes confusing in its discussion around the wording of the related Articles in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (32.2, 33.2 and 32.5) and lacks a clear conclusion.
Keywords: Chondrichthyes, Carcharhinidae, Pisces.