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

[Bob Mesibov]

Richard Pyle wrote:

"And again, I ask you to present supporting evidence for your claim "that author/date were not originally intended to point to a publication, but to disambiguate homonyms and specify priority".  You keep saying this again and again, but I don't understand why you are so confident in this assertion."

Rich, I'm surprised you keep asking this. A fundamental feature of the ICZN (it might go back further, too, before 1889) is that names are tied to authors. The author and date are coordinated with the name, so that if a species name is associated with a different genus, or a supraspecific taxon changes rank within a group, the authorship moves with it, and this specifies priority, just as Stephen says.
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
(03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
Website: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/mesibov.html