Selling species (from today's Science)

[Ken Kinman]

     I am wondering if there is a money back guarantee (not that I would buy
a species name, even if I could afford it).  If "your" species goes extinct
do you get your money back?  Or what if it is later found to be a synonym of
another name (which will become increasingly likely, since a wave of
revenue-producing taxonomic splitting might occur in some taxa).
     I haven't read the Science article yet, but I suppose if the money is
well spent on biological research, it is "relatively" harmless as long as it
doesn't become an overwhelming fad.  But it would be rather irritating if
ten  years down the road we had many hundreds of species with names like
donaldtrumpi, billgatesi, etc.
     But I suspect Linnaeus would frown on naming species after people, even
for prominent biologists (which I believe began in the latter 19th Century),
rather than the descriptive names he used.  I am sure he would certainly
applaud the bacteriologists and virologists for encouraging a more
traditional descriptive nomenclature.
                     Cheers, Ken Kinman
*******************************************************
>From: "W.Wuster" <w.wuster at BANGOR.AC.UK>
>Reply-To: "W.Wuster" <w.wuster at BANGOR.AC.UK>
>To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
>Subject: Re: Selling species (from today's Science)
>Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 13:18:27 +0000
>
>On Mon, 24 Jan 2000, B. J. Tindall wrote:
>
> > Dear John,
> > You should know that Recommendation 10a of the Bacteriological Code
>frowns
> > on that! Not guilty this time, it is a sea snail:
> >
> > Bufonaria borisbeckeri (taken from Die Zeit)
>
>Just wondering - do they charge different rates depending on the level
>of attractiveness of the organism involved? Does the buyer get to
>choose?  I could see a cute small mammal going for a lot more than some
>nematode only known from a toad's lower colon...
>
>Cheers,
>
>Wolfgang Wuster
>
>--
>Dr. Wolfgang Wüster  -  Research Fellow
>School of Biological Sciences    Voicemail: +44 1248 382301
>University of Wales              Fax: +44 1248 371644
>Bangor LL57  2UW                 E-mail: w.wuster at bangor.ac.uk
>Wales, UK                        http://sbsweb.bangor.ac.uk/
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