Spelling of vernacular names

[Arthur Chapman> <with opt1 DIGEST]

Re layout of common names.

People may be interested in the following report where I make a number of recommendations on layout of Common names:

Chapman, A.D. (2004l). Guidelines on Biological Nomenclature. Brazil edition. Appendix J to Sistema de Informação Distribuído para Coleções Biológicas: A Integração do Species Analyst e SinBiota. FAPESP/Biota process no. 2001/02175-5 March 2003 – March 2004. Campinas, Brazil: CRIA 11 pp. http://splink.cria.org.br/docs/appendix_j.pdf.

regards

Arthur

>From Robin Leech <releech at TELUSPLANET.NET> on 3 Mar 2005:

> Piotr,
> Except for birds in North America, where there has been a preference
> to use a designated common name only, and no scientific name, no
> capitals are needed.
> However, if a proper word is incluced in the name, then that word
> is capitalized, e.g., Mexican bearded weevil, or if the name is used
> at the beginning of a sentence, e.g., "Bearded weevils are...".
> Check the 1992, 6th edition, of the CBE Style Manual.
> Robin Leech
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Piotr Naskrecki" <p.naskrecki at CONSERVATION.ORG>
> To: <TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 8:01 AM
> Subject: Spelling of vernacular names
>
>
> Greetings,
>
> Since we are on the subject of vernacular names I would like to ask a
> somewhat related question regarding the proper spelling of vernacular
> names
> in English. Should vernacular names be capitalized, and if so, should
> all
> component words be capitalized or just the first one? For example, the
> vernacular name of Rhinostomus barbirostris could be spelled the Bearded
> Weevil, the Bearded weevil, or the bearded weevil. Which one of these is
> the
> correct one?
>
> Cheers,
> Piotr
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Piotr Naskrecki, Ph. D.
> Director, Invertebrate Diversity Initiative
> Conservation International  (http://www.conservation.org)
> Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
> 26  Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
> Phone: (617) 496-8179
> Fax: (617) 495-5667
>
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>