Binomial elimination

[David B. Wright]

On Thu, 16 Mar 1995, Barry Roth wrote:
> Another approach (I think this is different to what David Wright suggested)
> would be to decouple the genus-name (the first term of a Linnean binomen)
> from membership in a taxon designated by that name.  Allow the existing
> names, with their rich texture of associations, to continue to exist, but
> cease to require the name to serve a classificational function.

If the genus name remained unchanged after changing to the new system,
such that moving a species around in a phylogeny had no effect on the
"genus" part of its name, then you would have a de facto "frozen"
uninomial with a space in it (fine by me; or maybe fill the space with
a period as in unix filenames).

David Wright
dwright at u.washington.edu