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The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has now released its decision on the correct spelling of the scientific name of the Black-browed Albatross in the June 2010 issue (Volume 67, Part 2, pp. 194-196) of its Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 

Opinion 2252 (Case 3449) " rules to confirm that that melanophris Temminck, 1828, as published as the binomen Diomedea melanophris, is the correct original spelling."  As a consequence of this ruling, the Commission has placed melanophris on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology and placed melanophrys Temminck, 1839 on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Names in Zoology. 

The abstract of the original submission of Case 3449 may be found at BZN Volume 65, Part 2, 30 June 2008 (click here).

ACAP adopted the now-official spelling (in the form Thalassarche melanophris) at its Third Session of its Meeting of Parties in 2009  (click here for the report), based on the detailed submission made to the Commission, and without waiting for its ruling that has taken two years to make.  However, "all's well that ends well" and ACAP's usage over the last year of melanophris has now shown to be correct. 

With thanks to Caio J. Carlos, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil for supplying the Commission's ruling.

 John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 3 July 2010