1. When used in citations square brackets indicate uncertainty. Most commonly it will be the year that is given between square brackets. In this case the date of description is uncertain and the date between the brackets is the earliest, verifiable date. For example: Anomoia purmunda (Harris, [1780]) (Diptera: Tephritidae). The name waspublished in a series of piblications of which the first was issues in 1776 and the last one was dated 1780. The name proposed was in an undated volume, but this volume was published in 1780 at the latest.
2. When used in citations in lists of synonyms, square brackets are often used to enclose statements of clarification or misidentification. For example: Acletoxenus Frauenfeld, 1868: 152. Type species: Acletoxenus syrphoides Frauenfeld, 1868 [= Gitona formosa Loew, 1864], mon. Von Frauenfeld (1868) described the genus Acletoxenus which has Acletoxenus syrphoides as type species. However, that species had already been described under the name Gitona formosa by Loew (1864).
I can no longer send private messages (and maybe not receive?), even though my inbox and outbox are not yet full. I write, click "send" and they disappear and never show up in the outbox.
Tried to attach an image to a forum post. jpg, 32kB, 72dpi, no blanks, ... File name is correctly displayed, but when I click "Preview Thread" it just vanishes. Help!