any official terminology? Nomenclature versus Taxonomy

[Richard Pyle]

> I might disagree in principle with the concept that several
> valid combinations could be in existence simultaneously, since it could
> be argued that the most recently published combination should be the
> valid one.  But if that always was strictly followed, inadvertent
> changes would be made too many times by authors who were not aware of
> the most recent literature.

In my view, there is no "Correct" combination, in the sense that the most
recently published combination has some greater sense of "correct" than any
other combination (provided the combinations are 'Code-legal', sensu Spies).
Reasonable taxonomists may disagree, and therefore there may definitely be
more than one simultaneously "valid" combination, each championed by
reasonable taxonomic perspectives.

The connection between the word "correct" and the ICZN Code seems to me to
be much less ambiguous than the association of the word "official" with the
Code.  "Correct", to me, implies "objectively correct", and in scientific
nomenclature, the only standard of objective correctness is the Code.  As
Chris Thompson ably pointed out, the Code doesn't deal with Taxonomy, which
is where most alternative "combinations" fall.

Having said that, there are certainly different degrees of "prevailing
usage" -- both in terms of nomenclature and in taxonomy.  For nomenclature,
the "prevailing usage" issues are not about combinations, so prevailing
usage of combinations is a function of taxonomy (sensu Thompson).

So, when Chris says:

"Again I will state the obvious, indexers need a FLAG to tell them that
there has been a change in Taxonomy."

I'm not sure what, exactly, you are flagging in your index in such cases
(except where a new combination is used for the first time). Would you flag
the reversion of a secondarily applied combination back to the original (or
any other earlier invoked) combination as a "change in taxonomy"?  If so,
then would you do so in all cases (based purely on chronology of publication
with no effect of prevailing usage)?  Or, is there some "prevailing usage
stability" threshold that must have existed before a usage of an earlier
combination is deemed to represent a "change in taxonomy"?

Aloha,
Rich