Selling species (from today's Science)

[John McNeill]

Dear all:
It seems that my idle curiosity as to whether there was a 'market' in bacteriological names was misconstrued by some.
I do not know anything of Boris Becker except that he is a tennis star and no thought of impugning him in any way.
I did know that Dr Brian Tindall, a microbial taxonomist, works at DMZ where the lists of bacterial names are maintained, and so I thought that his information had come from that source. It now appears that it was from the news media, not from his professional links, and moreover, that the recognition was honorific not purchased.
My real crime was inadvertantly including the Taxacom list in my mail to Brian, thereby adding to your bandwidth, quite unnecessarily.  
John McNeill

<<< "B. J. Tindall" <bti at DSMZ.DE>  1/24  8:01a >>>
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)

Brian

At 07:03 24.1.2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Brian: What did he buy? -- the name of a bacterium?  John.
>John McNeill
>
><<< "B. J. Tindall" <bti at DSMZ.DE>  1/24  6:44a >>>
>If I recall correctly Boris Becker (the German tennis star) has already
>bought himself the honor about two weeks ago.
>Brian Tindall
>
>At 18:21 21.1.2000 EST, you wrote:
>>The list may be interested in the following news item from today's Science
>>(287:  421):
>>
>>--------------------------------
>>TAXONOMY:
>>Researchers Cash In on Personalized Species Names
>>
>>Sabine Steghaus-Kovac
>>
>>In return for a donation to biodiversity research, you can now have a
>>previously unknown species named after you and recorded in the scientific
>>literature for perpetuity. The scheme, dubbed BIOPAT, was registered last
>>week as a nonprofit organization in Germany. Its founders hope it will
become
>>a valuable source of funding for the unglamorous fields of systematics and
>>taxonomy, as well as supporting conservation in the new species' home
>>countries.
>>
>>
>>--------------------------------------------
>>
>>I always wondered how I could get a species named after me without all that
>>tedious work!
>>
>>Mark Garland
>>Florida Department of Environmental Protection
>>2600 Blair Stone Road, Mail Station 2500
>>Tallahassee, Florida 32399
>>U.S.A.
>>
>>
>
>
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* Dr.B.J.Tindall      E-MAIL bti at dsmz.de                           *
* DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH *
* Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany                *
* Tel.: ++ 531 2616 0 (general)                                    *
* Tel.: ++ 531 2616 224 (direct)                                   *
* Fax:  ++ 531 2616 418                                            *
* Fax:  ++ 531 2616 491 (ISDN)                                     *
*                                                                  *
* Homepage: http://www.dsmz.de/index.html                          *
* E-MAIL: help at dsmz.de (general enquiries)                         *
*         sales at dsmz.de (sales)                                    *
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