[Taxacom] Correct name of the Wasp Spider

Fri Jul 7 07:14:07 CDT 2017

This is a classic case of nomenclatural busybodies "correcting" original spellings to their notion of what a name should be, without following the original spelling. The same thing has happened with numerous other spider names (and no doubt with the names of other animal species). To take another spider example: the original spelling of the name of the pantropical jumping spider which is usually given as "Plexippus paykulli" (with one terminal i) was Attus paykullii, described by Audouin in 1826. With its transfer to the genus Plexippus the name should, of course, be written as Plexippus paykullii (Audouin, 1826), yet the World Spider Catalog (http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/species/32089/Plexippus_paykulli) gives it as Plexippus paykulli. Roewer (1954, Katalog der Araneae, 2b, p. 1086) gives this name correctly as Plexippus paykullii.
I think the wholesale changing of -ii to -i for the names of spiders was introduced in the more recent spider catalogs. Such unwarranted "corrections" of scientific names seem to be less common in botany.
Priyantha
 D. P. Wijesinghe
dpwijesinghe at yahoo.com

      From: Michael Schmitt <michael.schmitt at uni-greifswald.de>
 To: "taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> 
 Sent: Friday, July 7, 2017 7:28 AM
 Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Correct name of the Wasp Spider

Dear Thomas, dear Paul & colleagues,

thank you very much for your input. Art. 33.3.1. is completely clear. My 
question still is: for which reason, on which basis or argument, did 
somebody (who? when?) change the original spelling so that it could 
become prevailing usage?

All the Best
Theo Michael Schmitt

Am 04.07.2017 um 20:54 schrieb Thomas Pape:
> Michael:
>
> You are entirely correct that Scopoli (1772) gave the spelling "brunnichii", and he may have named the species after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich.
> As for deciding the correct original spelling in the sense of the Code, you mention that the name is "commonly given as Argiope bruennichi (Scopoli, 1772)".
> If that spelling is in prevailing usage, the following Article kicks in:
>
> 33.3.1. when an incorrect subsequent spelling is in prevailing usage and is attributed to the publication of the original spelling, the subsequent spelling and attribution are to be preserved and the spelling is deemed to be a correct original spelling.
>
> /Thomas Pape
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Taxacom [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Michael Schmitt
> Sent: 4. juli 2017 18:35
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: [Taxacom] Correct name of the Wasp Spider
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> I wonder if someone could enlighten me as to the nomenclature of the Wasp Spider, commonly given as Argiope bruennichi (Scopoli, 1772). The correct specific epithet is "brunnichii" (see http://www.animalbase.uni-goettingen.de/zooweb/servlet/AnimalBase/home/species?idG51),
> but the spelling "bruennichi" is listed by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System as well as in the World Spider Catalog, Version 11.0, website (version 11.0).
> <https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/RefRpt?search_type=source&search_id=source_id&search_id_valuex7>
> I would be grateful for any hint re the reason(s) for this apparent violation of the Code.
>
> Best regards
> Michael

-- 
Prof.Dr. Michael Schmitt, FLS
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universitaet
Allgemeine & Systematische Zoologie
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Germany

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