Taxacom: Mandatory ending correction after 226 years of wrong usage - the Dasytes case

[Douglas Yanega]

On 1/29/25 1:48 PM, Michael Heads via Taxacom wrote:
> also it's plural, although the species epithets in Dasytes are all
> masculine singular.

No, it is emphatically not plural - it is a noun in the nominative 
singular, as required by the Code.

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Plurals cannot be genus names, though genus names might sometimes have, 
by coincidence, the same spellings as a plural word, or a verb, or a 
genitive.

Also, Isidor neglected to mention, that the Code prohibits authors from 
determining the genders of genera when the name they use is a Latin or 
Greek word that *already has a fixed gender in the dictionary*. The Code 
explicitly states, in Articles 30.1.1 and 30.1.2, that only the gender 
in the dictionary is to be used. Paykull is not permitted to make 
"Dasytes" into a masculine word by power of authority - the *dictionary* 
determines the gender. Paykull made an error, and it should be fixed 
rather than perpetuated. Where the author CAN determine the gender is 
when a genus name is based on a word of variable gender, the most common 
examples being Greek adjectives, of which there are thousands of genus 
names based upon them.

The Greek word ending "χαρής" (chares) is a good example - it is 
adjectival and not of fixed gender, meaning "delighting in" (e.g, 
δρυμοχαρής - drymochares - "delighting in the woods"). There are some 70 
genera with this ending, nearly all of which are masculine under ICZN 
Art. 30.1.4.2, though two genus names, Cecidochares Bezzi, 1910, and 
Limnochares Latreille, 1796, were coined with feminine adjectival 
epithets, and are therefore feminine.

The rules in the Code are not especially difficult to apply or adhere to.

Peace,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314  voicemail:951-827-8704
FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
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