[Taxacom] FW: formation of zoological names with Mc, Mac, et

[Wolfgang Lorenz]

Dear all,
is not the ICZN Code, 4th Edition clear about this?

"Article 51: Citation of names and authors.

51.1. Optional use of names of authors. The name of the author does not form
part of the name of a taxon and its citation is optional, although customary
and often advisable.

Recommendation 51A. Citation of author and date. The original author and
date of a name should be cited at least once in each work dealing with the
taxon denoted by that name. This is especially important in distinguishing
between homonyms and in identifying species-group names which are not in
their original combinations. If the surname and forenames(s) of an author
are liable to be confused, these should be distinguished as in scientific
bibliographies."

I'd say let's stay with the current Code but let's also keep in mind that
electronic databases are a new form of publication. Many of the specific
issues and problems of databases as a form of Code-compliant publication are
not yet addressed sufficiently in the Code.
E.g., as a side note, let me just point to one of the main issues: the
question what is to be regarded as "finished" published work in regard to
electronic databases. Is it versionized databases or parts of databases
only? And what is to be seen as unpublished manuscript, - e.g., dynamically
updated databases?. Such questions are important, for example, when we want
to determine the "usage" of names, etc.

Best regards,
Wolfgang

--------------------------------
Wolfgang Lorenz, Tutzing, Germany


2009/9/2 Stephen Thorpe <s.thorpe at auckland.ac.nz>

> No way! The authority/date should be thought of as part of the name! The
> authority is only indirectly about a person. The authority for a taxon is
> however the surname of the author of that taxon is spelled in the original
> publication, i.e., it is a "nominal person". If it is Smith, then the
> authority is just Smith. The name needs to be linked to the original
> publication is some other (external) way. The only reason for having dates
> as part of names is because of PRIORITY, NOT to point to a publication.
> Ideally, in a database, a name needs to be followed by a field pointing to
> the original publication, maybe like this:
>
> Examplus primus Smith, 1970
> Original publication: J. Smith, 1970a
>
> ________________________________________
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [
> taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Tony.Rees at csiro.au[Tony.Rees at csiro.au
> ]
> Sent: Wednesday, 2 September 2009 6:02 p.m.
> To: jim.croft at gmail.com; fwelter at gwdg.de
> Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] FW: formation of zoological names with Mc, Mac, et
>
> Jim Croft wrote:
>
> <snip>
> I am getting quite worried about all this 'sanitization' of authorish
> strings as though it has some sort of nomenclatural, taxonomic or
> operational validity.  The author and date are not part of the name -
> they are attributes of a particular use of the name.
> </snip>
>
> Sounds a lot like operational and taxonomic validity to me. In the cases of
> homonyms at least, we need to distinguish between usages of a name -
> different authors/years/publications/pages, different usages, often
> different taxonomic status (nomen nudum or whatever). If we can't link
> together authority citations that are not identical but which are variant
> references to the same published name instance, then they all look like
> different name usages, which is incorrect.
>
> - Tony
>
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