[Taxacom] ICZN - gender of genus-group name ending in -oops

[Stephen Thorpe]

There is actually a very simple and elegant solution to multiple names for the same taxon, now that we are in the computer age. The idea is to always hyperlink a name to its original combination/spelling, but the link can display as any name you like. Best of both worlds!

Stephen

--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 23/5/16, David Redei <david.redei at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ICZN - gender of genus-group name ending in -oops
 To: "taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
 Received: Monday, 23 May, 2016, 1:18 PM
 
 Mike,
 
 
 > Here a generalized
 conversation I have had over and over:
 >
 
 >
 Ecologist: "What is this species? It has never been
 associated with this
 > plant
 before."
 > Me: "Oh, that is the
 same as the species you have been working with, it
 > has just been moved to another
 genus."
 > Ecologist: "But, both
 names are different, not just the genus, it must be
 > something different."
 > Me: "No, it is just that the ending
 is changed to conform with Latin
 >
 grammer."
 > Ecologist: "But I
 am writing in English, not Latin, so I use which
 ending?"
 > Me: "It is a rule,
 the ending changes."
 > Ecologist:
 "You taxonomists need to leave the 18th century behind
 and
 > embrace the 21st!  No wonder you
 have trouble getting respect and funding
 > in the modern world."
 >
 
 Your
 conversation is delightful. Here is another one from the
 future.
 
 Ecologist:
 "What is this species, Nezara viridulus? I have never
 seen this
 name."
 Me:
 "Oh, that is the same as Nezara viridula (the Green
 Vegetable Bug) you
 have been working
 with."
 Ecologist: "Oh, but the
 species name is different, it must be something
 different."
 Me:
 "Briefly, it was described in 1758 as Cimex viridulus.
 It was
 transferred to the genus Nezara in
 1843, and according to the rules that
 time
 it changed the ending to conform with Latin grammar, it
 became Nezara
 viridula. It was cited as
 Nezara viridula for nearly 200 years, and as it
 is probably the agriculturally most significant
 Heteroptera, 1000+ papers
 used this name.
 But recently we taxonomist have decided that we want to
 leave the 18th Century behind and embrace the
 21st. Therefore the rules of
 naming animals
 were modified in that way that for all animals the
 original
 spelling of the specific epithet
 must be used, with no regard of the
 current
 taxonomic placement of the species, because this will make
 dealing
 with the names more easy for those
 who do not want to look up Latin words
 on
 Wiktionary. So it is now Nezara viridulus. But be careful,
 only Nezara
 viridula has changed to Nezara
 viridulus, Nezara antennata and Nezara
 yunnana won't change to Nezara antennatus
 and Nezara yunnanus, those will
 remain
 unchanged. From now on, if you want to know the correct name
 of an
 animal, you will only need to look up
 the original description, so simple.
 
 You can complete the script and write the last
 line, the reply of the
 ecologist / applied
 entomologist.
 
 With best
 regards, David
 _______________________________________________
 Taxacom Mailing List
 Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
 The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be
 searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org
 
 Channeling Intellectual
 Exuberance for 29 years in 2016.