Women's names as epithets (aemula, glabella)

[Vitor Miranda]

Dear Luis, F. Christian and taxacomers,

"Glabella" (dim. glaber: hairless) and the same to "aemula" (dim.v.
aemulor: emulate) are Latin names.
Probably the epithet "aemula" was assigned to a species that resembles
(morphology?) to another one.
All the best,
Vitor.

Luis A. Ruedas wrote:

> Glabella: feminine diminutive of hairless, bald, smooth: glaber (m.:
> glabellus).  Not sure about aemula, but could be from emulatus, rivaling
> (emulating), hence aemulor, to rival or envy, thence a feminine.  Not
> very likely to have been names!
>
> Luis
>
> christian thompson wrote:
>
>> Taxacomers:
>>
>> There is a masculine genus of flower flies in which a few epithets
>> are clearly female first names. The authors of these epithet never
>> made any statement about the derivation of the epithets. But
>> Eristalis claudia, cora, doris, dorothea, thalia, and vera, are all
>> female names and were used as nouns.
>>
>> My question is a couple other names which look to me like they are
>> also female fore names, but I can not find them in my Webster
>> (English) dictionary as such. Google was of little help beyond
>> finding some plants which have them as epithets and noting that one
>> is a morphological term. So, does the taxacom community know whether
>> "glabella" or "aemula" in other cultures have been used as female
>> forenames?
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> F. Christian Thompson
>> Systematic Entomology Lab., USDA
>> c/o Smithsonian Institution
>> MRC-0169 NHB
>> PO Box 37012
>> Washington, DC 20013-7012
>> (202) 382-1800 voice
>> (202) 786-9422 FAX
>> cthompso at sel.barc.usda.gov e-mail
>> www.diptera.org  web site
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> =============================================================
> Luis A. Ruedas, Ph.D.             vox: 503/725-9526 (Pacific)
> Director, Museum of Vertebrate Biology      fax: 503/725-3888
> Department of Biology
> Portland State University
> Box 0751              web: http://sevilleta.unm.edu/~lruedas/
> Portland, OR 97207-0751                e-mail: ruedas at pdx.edu
> =============================================================
>

--
--
Vitor Fernandes Oliveira de Miranda
Professor Assistente
Universidade de Mogi da Cruzes - UMC
Laboratório de Sistemática Vegetal
Av. Dr. Cândido Xavier de Almeida Souza, n.200
CEP 08780-911 - Mogi das Cruzes - SP - Brasil
Tel.: +55 (11) 4798-7143/ 4798-7313
http://www.umc.br/~vmiranda/lsv
e-mail: vmiranda at umc.br