[Taxacom] Quick question re formation of a family-group name

[Colin Favret]

This isn't turning out to be such a "quick" question.

For what it's worth, similar issues have been presented for ruling by the Commission several times before. Interestingly, it has not ruled consistently:

e.g.,
Opinion 143 was to make the family name based on the genus Tingis, Tingidae.
Opinion 450 was to make the family name based on the genus Pyralis, Pyralidae.
But...
Opinion 677 was to make the family name based on the genus Aphis, Aphididae.

[this info taken from Russell, L.M. 1962. Discussion of the case "Aphis Linnaeus, 1758, its type-species and the family-group name derived from it (Insecta, Hemiptera). Z.N.(S.) 881. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 19(4):195-198]

See http://aphid.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=7 and its synonyms for citations leading up to Opinion 677.

There may not be an objective answer to whether the family name based on the genus Pericelis is Pericelidae or Pericelididae.



cheer, colin

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Colin Favret, Chief Scientist, AphidNet, LLC
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