The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has declined to use its plenary power to conserve the specific name of Geophilus alpinus Meinert, 1870 for a European species of geophilomorph centipede. As a result, the name impressus C.L. Koch, 1847 as published in the binomen Geophilus impressus has priority over the names palustris C.L. Koch, 1863, as published in the binomen Geophilus palustris and alpinus Meinert, 1870, as published in the binomen Geophilus alpinus whenever the former is considered synonymous with either of the latter.