Conventions for common names?

[Thomas Lammers]

At 05:36 PM 8/22/01 -0400, Byron J. Adams wrote:

>Are there any guidelines or "rules of thumb" for establishing common names
>for organisms that heretofore are known only by their scientific names?

Well, if you must, I would suggest coming up with a noun to represent a
genus -- e.g., "mite-gobbler" or whatever, and adjectives to distinguish
the various species of that genus -- e.g.,"green mite-gobbler" "slimy
mite-gobbler" "Johnson's mite-gobbler" etc.  At least in this way there
will be a strong parallel between scientific and vernacular nomenclature.

Though I still think it'd be better to educate users.


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.

Webpages:
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/Lammers.htm
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Resort/7156/lammers.html
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/herbarium/herbarium.html
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