Lists of Homonyms

[B.J.Tindall]

Some time ago John McNeill published a list of statitsics, but complete
lists of genus name homonyms are not available. In the case of

a) bacterial homonyms - irrespective of the source as botanical or
zoological taxa - about 100+

b) botanical-zoological homonyms, about 5-6,000

Ellen Farr at ING and Judy Howcroft at BIOSIS/Zoological Record have helped
me compile a list of bacterial-botanical-zoological homonyms which it
should be possible to publish. However, I ran into some problems with
checking on the various names. In the case of bacterial and botanical names
it is fairly easy to list the "names, authors, dates, publication, and
type". Unfortunately the Zoological Record is primarily designed to index
the zoological literature and full details of "name, authors, dates,
publication and type" is only available if you consult the original
publication. This means scanning the Zoological Record for all publications
using that name and then tracking down the one(s) which deal with the
taxonomy. When the entry in the Zoological Record says "abstract in
English, original article in Chinese" then the task gets more difficult.
Secondly it is essential to check the nature of the potential homonym by
reference to the "author, date, publication and type". I have found three
concrete examples of problems:
a) a bacterial genus indexed in the Zoological Record as a nematode because
the publication deals with the presence of the bacterium in the nematode
b) a publication containing reference to a bacterial genus being indexed
under the (fossil) protozoan genus name because the two are homonyms
c) reference to Salmonella as a crustacean genus (can anyone confirm
this?), but the bacterial genus Salmonella may also be associated with
crustaceans and be a source of food poisoning
Since the Zoological Record primarily indexes the zoological literature
this is not a criticism of their work, but a statement of fact. To solve
these problems they would certainly need our help.

In the absence of lists of homonyms the best sources for lists of names are:
Bacteria: http://www.bacterio.cict.fr/

Botany: (ING) http://rathbun.si.edu/botany/ing/
         (NCU) http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/ncu/genera/Default.htm

Zoology: (TRITON) http://www.biosis.org.uk/triton/indexfm.htm

Brian

At 16:29 12.5.2003 +0100, you wrote:
>Can anyone suggest a good online source listing taxonomic homonyms?
>
>I am mainly concerned with genera - i.e. Morus - gannet and mulberry;
>Trichia - snail and slime mould
>
>many thanks,
>
>Charles Hussey,
>
>Science Data Co-ordinator,
>Library and Information Services,
>The Natural History Museum,
>Cromwell Road,
>London SW7 5BD
>United Kingdom
>
>Tel. +44 (0)207 942 5213
>Fax. +44 (0)207 942 5559
>e-mail c.hussey at nhm.ac.uk
>URL http://www.nhm.ac.uk
>


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