PhyloCode names

[Thomas Lammers]

At 05:47 PM 10/21/00 +0200, you wrote:
>I think we really need some kind of rules for coining clade names, and
>such names have to be rankless, i.e. there cannot be hierarchical
>information built into the form of the name. But I also think that Tom
>Lammers has a good point in suggesting that clade names should have a form
>making them easily distinguishable from traditional "Linnean" names (which
>haven't got very much to do with Linnaeus). Note that names of cultivars
>cannot be latin-like words. The "L" and "P" recommended in art. 6 of the
>P-code may not be enough to avoid confusion, and they are difficult to
>handle in speech.
>
>Why not decide that clade names should be English plural forms of some
>descriptive word, like "Tricolpates" for the Eudicots - or a phrase based
>on a word in Sanskrit or another distinguished fossil language. Or we
>might agree on a set of suffixes, one of which should always be used in
>clade names under the PyloCode.

This would eliminate much of my opposition and I could be much more
supportive of the PhyloCode if this were the case.  Heck, I might even USE
it!  : - )




Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-7085
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.
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