Same genus/Different Kingdoms

[Karen Wilson]

     Peter Davis comments on the presence of a genus Pieris in both the
     plant world and the insect world.
     This comes about because the naming of plants and animals is governed
     by two separate International Codes of Nomenclature. No name can
     legitimately be used more than once under each code, but there is no
     hindrance at present to the same name occurring under the two Codes.
     Indeed, theoretically you could even find a bacterium called Pieris
     because bacteria are covered by a third separate Code.
     There are currently moves to unify these three Codes as one Biocode,
     but there are many points to be discussed before any of the three
     groups of biologists will accept such a unification.

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          Karen L. Wilson
          Royal Botanic Gardens               E-mail: karen at rbgsyd.gov.au
          Mrs Macquaries Road                 Fax: 61-2-*9251.7231
          SYDNEY   NSW 2000, AUSTRALIA        Phone: 61-2-*9231.8137

          * From late July 1996, the '9' has been added in front of the
          existing numbers (all Sydney phone numbers beginning with '2' to
          '8' changed then (those beginning with '9' changed last year - in
          fact, all Australian numbers are gradually being altered over the
          next few years so that we will only have 4 area codes in the
          country))