African wild ass descendant. Thus, if one species is recognized, the correct scientific name of the donkey is "E. africanus asinus". The first published name for the African wild ass, "Asinus africanus", Fitzinger, 1858, is a nomen nudum. The name "Equus taeniopus" von Heuglin, 1861 is rejected as indeterminable, as it is based on an animal that cannot be identified and may have been a hybrid between a domestic donkey and a Somali wild ass; the type has not been preserved. The first available name thus becomes "Asinus africanus" von Heuglin & Fitzinger, 1866. A lectotype is designated: a skull of an adult
Julius Africanus is a persistent belief in some quarters that Africanus was actually an African. However, being the son of a Gallic chief he was a member of a Celtic tribe. This confusion probably arises from an incorrect belief that the Roman cognomen Africanus means from Africa (i.e. born in Africa) rather than the correct meaning of famous relation to Africa. The name Africanus originated with Scipio Africanus, who defeated Carthage (in North Africa) during the Second Punic War. Julius Africanus Julius Africanus was a celebrated orator in the reign of Nero, and seems to have been the son of the Julius