Identical Names Used For Different Genera
A genus in one kingdom is allowed to bear a scientific name that is in use as a generic name (or the name of a taxon in another rank) in a kingdom that is governed by a different nomenclature code. Although this is discouraged by both the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, there are some five thousand such names in use in more than one kingdom. For instance, Anura is the name of the order of frogs but also is the name of a genus of plants (although not current: it is a synonym); Aotus is the genus of golden peas and night monkeys; Oenanthe is the genus of wheatears and water dropworts, Prunella is the genus of accentors and self-heal, and Proboscidea is the order of elephants and the genus of devil's claws.
Within the same kingdom one generic name can apply to only one genus. This explains why the platypus genus is named Ornithorhynchus—George Shaw named it Platypus in 1799, but the name Platypus had already been given to a group of ambrosia beetles by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst in 1793. Names with the same form but applying to different taxa are called homonyms. Since beetles and platypuses are both members of the kingdom Animalia, the name Platypus could not be used for both. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach published the replacement name Ornithorhynchus in 1800.
Read more about this topic: Genera, Generic Name
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