Taxacom: A compromise solution (was Re: Single official lists of taxa (sensu Doug Yanega many proposals to this list))

[Mark D. Scherz]

Personally, I think we absolutely *need* option 1 that Doug suggested—a
database of all species- and genus-group names ever coined—*irrespective* of
whether or not we use it for gender agreement or anything else. When I was
first starting out as a taxonomist, I was *shocked* that such a list didn't
yet exist. How can we have let it get away from us so quickly? 6 million
names isn't that many, in the grand scheme. Such a list is absolutely
critical to our field. It would be both an invaluable resource, and a vital
documentation of the history of the field. Its absence contributes to the
problem of homonymy, both at genus and species level.
As you and others have pointed out, we have already come a considerable way
in the production of such lists for various taxa (some of which are
aggregated in a few places like CoL and ITIS), and I think it is undeniably
a goal that we should be striving towards as a community.

I see your point about a system that would track all possible names, and
automatically yield correct formulations if the gender of the genus is
know. But I have major concerns about how realistic that is. So far, I have
been badly underwhelmed by the performance of available resource on the
internet for doing this or anything like it. In fact, I often use German
websites for help with Latin, because the English ones with which I am
familiar are rubbish (please let me know if you have good suggestions!).
People will get creative with compound words or prefixes, and then it will
become just part, and not the whole word, that you have to decline.  I
might not want to use a combination someone has used before, but extend it
to form a unique name. A system would have to be robust indeed to handle
the messes that are on the horizon, as new generations, further and further
removed from Latin education, enter and proliferate in this field.

Cheers,
Mark



*- - -Dr Mark D. Scherz, PhD (Dr rer. nat.)*
*Curator of Herpetology & **Assistant Professor of Vertebrate Zoology*
Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group
IUCN SSC Chameleon Specialist Group
<mark.scherz at gmail.com>
Skype: mark.scherz
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On Thu, 6 Jul 2023 at 21:43, Michael A. Ivie via Taxacom <
taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> I have an even better solution.  Doug has fought, thought about, worried
> over and solved this problem literally for years. I am willing to bet he
> has spent more brain cells on this than the rest of us together.  Arm
> chair critics can spout off complaints about everything and anything,
> those with histories of contemplation of this issue will propose
> competing ideas, which Doug reads and thinks about.  No proposal or
> solution will be universally perfect and all will be subject to griping.
> I suggest we just appoint Doug as Benevolent Overlord and then live with
> what he comes up with.
>
> Mike
>
> On 7/6/2023 1:14 PM, lynn via Taxacom wrote:
> > **External Sender**
> >
> > Not one of the proposals appears to have unanimous support. It occurs to
> me that there could be a simple solution to all of this. This is that from
> the date of the next code all genus and species names should end with the
> letter “a” not representing any gender but rather the fact that zoology
> deals with animalia. If the name already ends in “a” then it remains the
> same but otherwise the final letter is added. No need to check genders or
> original usage or even the latest known usage.
> > Ridiculous? Maybe, but still a lot simpler even for those like George
> who have no interest in the meanings of names or figuring out gender
> agreement, instead preferring to search for the original names used for
> each species. It might even satisfy the gender agreement camp as it
> superficially looks like gender agreement even though it isn’t.
> > Lynn Raw
> > --
> > __________________________________________________
> >
> > Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.
> >
> > NOTE: two addresses with different Zip Codes depending on carriers
> >
> > US Post Office Address:
> > Montana Entomology Collection
> > Marsh Labs, Room 50
> > PO Box 173145
> > Montana State University
> > Bozeman, MT 59717
> > USA
> >
> > UPS, FedEx, DHL Address:
> > Montana Entomology Collection
> > Marsh Labs, Room 50
> > 1911 West Lincoln Street
> > Montana State University
> > Bozeman, MT 59718
> > USA
> >
> >
> > (406) 994-4610 (voice)
> > (406) 994-6029 (FAX)
> > mivie at montana.edu
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