Taxacom: Renaming taxa on ethical grounds

[David Campbell]

Many older honorific names don't have an accompanying explanation.  For
those that do, there is a complex gradient in the degree to which the
person (or pet) honored contributed to taxonomy, either specifically
related to the particular project or more broadly connected to the field.
In the US, complaints are sometimes raised against honorifics that refer to
someone who was associated with the losing side in the US Civil War,
regardless of whether the name was given several years before the conflict
in light of the individual's scientific endeavors.

"Replace existing scientific names with indigenous names" is a somewhat
different problem, though often reflecting similar motivations.  It runs
into the practical problems of instability, which indigenous name, etc.  It
even runs into problems relating to its own motivation, as colonialism is
merely tribalism writ large.  Given the history of interactions, for
example, the Moriori might have more positive associations with English
names than Maori names for organisms.

One other situation where eliminating honorifics may be less than practical
is for extremely diverse genera with small morphological differences.
There are only so many ways that I can say "tiny pointy snail" in Latin.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
Associate Professor, Geology
Department of Natural Sciences
110 S Main St, #7270
Gardner-Webb University
Boiling Springs NC 28017