lectotypes

Noun

lectotype (plural lectotypes)

1. A biological specimen or illustration later selected to serve as definitive type example of a species or subspecies when the original author of the name did not designate a holotype.
   • Where the original diagnosis is without illustrations or is accompanied by figues based on two or more specimens, the first subsequent author is at liberty to select from these cotypes a type for the old species, adhering, as far as can be ascertained to the intention of the original author. Such a...1905, George P. Merrill, Bulletin of the United States National Museum, Vol. 53, page 12