rankless nomenclature

[Abdulghafor Nawaz]

It is not the name of the species that changes. The transfer of a species to another genus in which it very closely fits and to whose other species it more closely resembles exhibits its phylogenetic relationships. There is no doubt that allocation of a species or any other taxon to its apporpriate place should not become perturbed or bothered but may cope up with the new situation. N

Classification(s) can not be decoupled from nomenclature due to their interdependence. What would be classified, when the taxonomic units will not exist and the taxonomic units are provided by naming of taxa by the biologists/taxonomists who also determine the status of taxa in a classificatory system. 

The rate or frequency of name changes does not necessarily depend on phylogenetic relationships determined by micromorphological characters such as chromosome number, similar flavonoid or other chemical components etc. 

Abdul Ghafoor

-----Original Message-----
From:   Barry Roth [SMTP:barry_roth at YAHOO.COM]
Sent:   Wed, October 11, 2000 5:34 AM
To:     TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
Subject:        Re: rankless nomenclature

The quote below does not completely square with my understanding.  A species' name now changes when some taxonomist allocates the species to a different genus.  In that case, unless the new combination so formed is a junior homonym, nothing happens to the specific epithet.  But the combination of genus and species name, which is the "name" that end-users like foresters, fisheries workers, etc., are concerned about, is changed.  Allocation to a new genus does not necessarily affect the circumscription (i.e., scope, inclusiveness) of the species.

Decoupling nomenclature from classification would reduce the incidence of such name changes.  The frequency of new, far-reaching taxonomic revisions may increase in the future because new data sets are coming in fast and software for estimating relationships that lead users to taxonomic changes is widely available.  Does the rate of name changes need to accelerate also?

Barry Roth


  Una Smith <una.smith at YALE.EDU> wrote:
The names of species change when their circumscriptions change or they
get moved to a genus where a similar epithet has already been used for
a different species. Otherwise, new phylogenetic relationships do not
entail name changes (or am I missing something big here???). So, the
draft PhyloCode does nothing for the "problem" that most "users" have
with the current "Linnaean" system


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