Prior to 1998, genus authority was sometimes given to German naturalist Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben. Although the Brisson publication (1762) predated the Erxleben publication (1777), thus giving him preference under the Principle of Priority, some authors gave preference to Erxleben as genus authority because Brisson's publication did not consistently use binomial nomenclature. In 1998, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) decided that Brisson's 1762 publication was a "rejected work" for nomenclatural purposes. Despite rejecting the majority of the publication, the ICZN decided to conserve a dozen generic names from the work and retain Brisson as authority, including "Pteropus".