[Taxacom] progress on globalnames.org

[Robin Leech]

And you should also look under all the common names, the two
that spring to mind to me are "puma" and "mountain lion".  There
may also be local names.  For most citizenry, the common names
are just as valid as what you and I call scientific names.  The birders
have gone this way - capitalizing and using names such as White-breasted
Nuthatch, and no longer using the scientific names.
Robin Leech

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Tony.Rees at csiro.au>
To: <gread at actrix.gen.nz>; <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 6:43 PM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] progress on globalnames.org


> In a nutshell: some species level synonyms are homotypic (or objective) -
> based on the same type - and others are heterotypic (or subjective) -
> based on different types, which in the opinion of someone at some time are
> interpreted as belonging to the same species concept - but others may have
> different opinions (or revise their own through time) according to
> available evidence and their interpretation of it. Then we have the usage
> of the same name for multiple specimens or observed occurrences which are
> later interpreted to represent more than one real taxon (pro parte
> synonyms and misidentifications); also synonymy / divergent opinions at
> different ranks (e.g. see the fossil hominids for many cases - Homo
> neanderthalensis vs. H. sapiens neanderthalensis being an old one, plenty
> of new ones too). All complex things to model with simple 1:1 or 1:many
> "fixed" relationships, unfortunately...
>
> Regards - Tony
> ________________________________________
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> [taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Geoff Read
> [gread at actrix.gen.nz]
> Sent: Saturday, 16 May 2009 6:01 PM
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] progress on globalnames.org
>
>>>> On 15/05/2009 at 6:38 p.m., Peter DeVries <pete.devries at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>> Two of the reasons behind the use of scientific names are:
>> 1) They are more stable than common names
>> 2) The are more precise
>>
>> If you wanted to plot all the occurrence records of *Puma concolor* in
> North
>> America you would have to
>> combine all the data under all the different scientific names. That is
>> assuming that those observations
>> are accurate to species.
>>
>> Also, I did not mention that despite general agreement that we have one
>> metapopulation between Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin,
>> there is not general agreement over whether that should be called *Aedes
>> triseriatus* or *Ochlerotatus triseriatus.*
>
> My point was that both these differences are trivial, they are not real
> "different scientific names", and thus poor examples for your plan. The
> link is the epithet in both, derived from the basionym, and I betcha the
> biologists that work on them happily talk about their 'triseriatus'
> experiments and 'concolor' distribution data. Shades of the LITU.  Search
> software should be able to pull together the data on them easily.
>
> Ok, assuming we DO have real unlinked scientific names.  Say it's one
> where a near universally used 'beloved' name has a minor rival of totally
> different word string that's unfortunately the senior synonym.  Strife
> does ensue. I would simply give each a unique identifier in the 'system',
> and can't see any need for a third 'invented' identifier which purports to
> resolve a concept authoritatively but is not founded on anything tangible,
> and may just reflect someone's snap judgment opinion. Both of the above
> names will have basionyms and types, and that's where the 'species
> concepts' come from. Then there would be an identifier for the publication
> where the beloved name was 'sunk'. Those are the three essential elements
> that must be linked - somehow. Simply linking bare name strings in some
> resolver page is just speculation, but dangerous because of its minimalist
> nature.  Without context, it seems authoritative - god-like derived, but
> actually could be nonsense - there's a lot of misleading nonsense out
> there I find.
>
>
> Geoff
>
>
>
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