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

[Stephen Thorpe]

>Interestingly, it has not ruled consistently

that puts a negative spin on it, but quite possibly the ICZN *did* rule 
consistently if you take facts of "prevailing usage" and other things into 
account. Clearly, the ICZN is not ruling merely on grammatical correctness, in 
which case they really would be inconsistent

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

true, but since the original spelling was elided, "prevailing usage" now 
determines the correct spelling (Art. 29.3.1.1), so there are only 4 options:

(1) "prevailing usage" is elided, so the correct spelling is elided

(2) "prevailing usage" is unelided, so the correct spelling is unelided

(3) "prevailing usage" is divided, so the correct spelling is the original 
spelling

(4) "prevailing usage" is unclear as to whether it is divided or not, in which 
case probably only the Commission can solve it with a ruling ...

Stephen

PS: Also, ICZN rulings may have been made under different editions of the Code
 
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

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Colin Favret, Chief Scientist, AphidNet, LLC
18901 Tributary Ln, Gaithersburg MD 20879-3409, U.S.A.
+1-301-661-5089, www.AphidNet.org



_______________________________________________

Taxacom Mailing List
Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom

The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of these 
methods:

(1) http://taxacom.markmail.org

Or (2) a Google search specified as:  site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  
your search terms here


________________________________

From: Colin Favret <ColinFavret at AphidNet.org>
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Sent: Wed, 22 December, 2010 12:37:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Quick question re formation of a family-group name