Rehabilitation of Platanista gangetica (Lebeck, 1801) as the valid scientific name of the Ganges dolphin

The Dutch scientist Heinrich Julius Lebeck’s description of the Ganges dolphin is, based on a deduced latest date of publication 24 August 1801, given priority over William Roxburgh’s account of the same species, for which no precise date could be established. Although very similar to the work of Roxburgh, Lebeck’s paper shows independent text and figure elements; therefore, Pilleri’s assumption that it is a plagiarism of Roxburgh’s treatise is rejected.