[Taxacom] Latin grammar-related question

[Thomas G. Lammers]

At 05:59 AM 3/25/2009, John Landolt wrote:
>In the dictyostelid genus Polysphondylium, there is one species on
>the books named P. tikalensis.  Would this be grammatically correct?

That looks to be a grammatically neuter generic name, so the specific 
epithet would be "tikalense" to agree in gender.

>If there is a grammatical "mistake" in such names and the names are
>already published, should such sleeping dogs be allowed to lie
>peacefully or is there a serious reason for someone to make formal
>corrections?

There is not really any formal process for correcting them.  We are just 
supposed to start doing it correctly.  In a monograph or other formal 
bibliographic citation of the name, one should do this for the sake of 
clarity:

Polysphondylium tikalense Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 3: 2345 (1753), as 'tikalensis'.


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
800 Algoma Blvd.
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

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

Webpages:
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