The 2012 Amendment to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature allowed electronic publication for nomenclatural purposes, but it neither explicitly dealt with electronic versions published or posted online before being integrated into a journal issue, nor did it define what a preliminary version is. This has resulted in controversy as to whether electronic ‘pre-publications’ are available for the purposes of zoological nomenclature. Here I propose a definition of ‘preliminary version’ in line with publishers' NISO guidelines. The nomenclaturally relevant version is the Version of Record which is the final, immutable, published version. All versions of an article previous to the Version of Record are preliminary and not published for the purposes of zoological nomenclature. The immutability of the Version of Record refers only to content. Bibliographical metadata (volume, issue and page numbers) are not considered content; when those get added or changed with the inclusion of a document into a journal issue, the content of the document does not change, hence the version remains the same: the Version of Record. Following those guidelines, the Version of Record is available for nomenclatural purposes even if the page numbers later change. The online ‘pre-publication’ models of the major publishers are analysed as to which are available for zoological nomenclature. Electronic supplements should not contain nomenclaturally relevant information as they generally are neither immutable, nor permanent, nor published in the sense of the Code.

The purpose of this application, under Article 23.9.3 of the Code, is to conserve the widely used oribatid mite genus name Collohmannia Sellnick, 1922, which is threatened by the obscure senior subjective synonym Embolacarus Sellnick, 1919. The latter is based on a single fossil species whose type and only known specimen is lost; most subsequent literature citations are simple, unenhanced listings. By contrast, Collohmannia has been used in a significant body of literature relating to morphology, reproductive biology, development, behavior, chemical ecology and phylogeny, as well as appearing in molecular databases. It is proposed that Collohmannia be given precedence over Embolacarus whenever they are considered to be synonyms.

The purpose of this application, under Article 23.9.3 of the Code, is to conserve the specific name Geophilus alpinus Meinert, 1870 for a widespread European species of geophilomorph centipedes. This name, currently in use, is threatened by the subjective synonyms Geophilus impressus C.L. Koch, 1847 and Geophilus palustris C.L. Koch, 1863, which have been disregarded since 1874 and 1882 respectively.

The purpose of this application, under Article 75.6 of the Code, is to conserve the specific names of Anolis chlorocyanus Duméril & Bibron, 1837 and Anolis coelestinus Cope, 1862 in their accustomed usages. The syntypes of the former species are conspecific with the only available syntype of the latter; however, for about 85 years the name A. coelestinus has been applied to the species represented by these types. For the same period of time the name A. chlorocyanus has been consistently applied to another equally well-known taxonomic species. It is proposed that the Commission use its plenary power to set aside the type status of the syntypes of A. chlorocyanus in order to stabilize the current and long-established usage of the names A. chlorocyanus and A. coelestinus. It is further proposed that the specimen SMF 97845 be designated as the neotype of A. chlorocyanus Duméril & Bibron 1837. SMF 97845 is an adult male from El Limón, Province Samaná, Dominican Republic, that represents the taxonomic species traditionally referred to as A. chlorocyanus.

The Commission has conserved the name Phyllotreta undulata (Kutschera, 1860) for a common and wide spread flea-beetle species (chrysomelidae, galerucinae), by giving it precedence over the unused older name P. bivittata (Waterhouse, 1838), whenever these names are considered to be synonyms.

The Commission has not conserved the generic name Sematura Dalman, 1825 (Lepidoptera, sematuridae), a well-established name for a genus of moths widespread in the Neotropical region, threatened by its rarely used senior subjective synonym, Mania Hübner, 1821, which dropped out of use because it was incorrectly considered to be an unavailable homonym. The Commission did not give Sematura Dalman, 1825 precedence over Mania Hübner, 1821. The name Mania Hübner, 1821 is placed on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology.

The Commission has conserved the name Pachylemur Lamberton, 1948 (Primates, lemuridae) for a genus of subfossil Madagascan lemurs, by suppressing the senior subjective synonym Palaeochirogalus Grandidier, 1899 and by designating a type species for the genus Pachylemur Lamberton. Palaeochirogalus Grandidier has never seen any substantial usage whereas Pachylemur Lamberton, 1948 is in universal use; however, Pachylemur Lamberton, 1948 is unavailable because no type species was designated in the original publication. Filhol (1874) previously used the name Pachylemur for a ‘groupe’ of Paleogene primates; the Commission has concluded that this name, under either Filhol's or Palmer's (1904) authorship and, in either case, ambiguous as regards availability, should be formally suppressed at the genus-group level to prevent confusion.

In order to resolve an instance of misidentified type species, under Article 70.3 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature I select and fix Synemosyna scorpionia Hentz, 1846 to be the type species of Peckhamia Simon, 1900 (usually cited as 1901), a genus of ant-like salticid spiders from the New World. Acting as First Reviser, for the sake of stability and universality I also establish Peckhamia Simon, 1900 as the valid name for this genus, granting it precedence over its simultaneously published subjective synonym Consingis Simon, 1900.