Type of Homo sapiens

[Margaret Thayer]

>Okay, here's the exact text of Stearn's "lectotypification":
>....
>[Linnaeus]   said, "_Homo_ _nosce_ _Te_ _ipsum_." '
>
I agree that Stearn's comment seems less than a formal lectotype
designation, hence of questionable validity.

There seems little reason to think that Linnaeus was referring to the genus
Homo in the quoted line, however, since "homo" is simply the Latin word for
man.  It seems much more likely that he meant to refer to living humans,
i.e., Homo sapiens.

Margaret K. Thayer      thayer at fmnh.org
Adjunct Curator
Field Museum of Natural History - Zoology, Insects
Roosevelt Road @ Lake Shore Drive
Chicago IL 60605, USA   tel. 312-922-9410, ext. 838   fax 312-663-5397