(syn. cotype) Specimens before the original author of a species from which the species description was drawn, and from which a type specimen or holotype was not selected. See type specimens.

one of two or more specimens cited by the author at the time of publication of a name if no holotype was designated; any one of two or more specimens simultaneously designated as types. cf. type

Each specimen of a type series from which neither a holotype nor a lectotype has been designated.

Each specimen of a type series (of equal rank) when no holotype or lectotype has been named.

One of a number of specimens of equal nomenclatural rank that formed all or part of the material the original author had in cases in which the author did not designate or indicate a holotype. ( 14)

In zoological nomenclature, a syntype is any of two or more specimens listed in a species description where a holotype was not designated, a practice which was common historically. Those syntypes which have not been replaced are still considered name-bearing types. Historically, syntypes were often explicitly designated as such, and under the present Code this is a requirement in order for the designation to be valid, but modern attempts to publish species description based on syntypes are generally frowned upon by practicing taxonomists.