Taxacom: Renaming taxa on ethical grounds

[Stephen Thorpe]

 I am 100% against the renaming of taxa for "cancel culture" reasons. However, at the end of the day, anybody can use whatever name that they like for a taxon and it doesn't really matter, provided that we keep track of all the names that apply to that taxon. So, in a way, "cancel culture" in taxonomy is self-defeating: Sure, you can suppress the validity of a name that is deemed somehow "inappropriate", but you still have to keep the name going in the literature as a synonym, so as to keep track of previous published data about the taxon. At this point I laugh and ask, how does relegation to synonymy really "cancel" anything? If there was a trumpi, for example, it is here to stay. whether as valid or as a synonym. This also raises the point that inappropriateness is subjective. Republicans will continue to use trumpi as valid, while democrats will relegate it into synonymy! Herein lies the road to taxonomic instability, but, as I said, it doesn't really matter. The main thing is simply to keep track of all names for a given taxon, regardless of which one is treated as valid or preferred. A whole lot of fuss about nothing!
Stephen
    On Friday, 27 January 2023 at 05:30:21 pm NZDT, John Grehan via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:  
 
 The following article was just brought to my attention. Anyone interested
can get a copy at
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fpublication%2F367305748_Renaming_taxa_on_ethical_grounds_threatens_nomenclatural_stability_and_scientific_communication&data%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C84127f7f5a7b4c777c1408db00278d52%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638103942107744951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata)%2BGNs%2BiXVe2VXx8P5skYj%2BLdNQ41XO%2FVs0cF7j3dns%3D&reserved=0

Renaming taxa on ethical grounds threatens nomenclatural stability and
scientific communication
January 2023Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac107
-- 
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhepialidsoftheworld.com.au%2F&data%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C84127f7f5a7b4c777c1408db00278d52%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638103942107744951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=tumMfG6WtyQW0cqxqwAQq7b3Z3K0nL4k1yVIdosniIw%3D&reserved=0 (use the 'visit archived web site'
link, then the 'Ghost Moth Research page' link.
_______________________________________________
Taxacom Mailing List

Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.ku.edu/listinfo/taxacom
You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu
The Taxacom email archive back to 1992 can be searched at: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftaxacom.markmail.org%2F&data%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C84127f7f5a7b4c777c1408db00278d52%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638103942107744951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3KLbYJ5ogcqLKsa0tcacufQAkiWpFDINHO8F4rHceJI%3D&reserved=0

Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity and admiring alliteration for about 36 years, 1987-2023