[Taxacom] New lizard species

[Stephen Thorpe]

I suspect that the French version is just a translational equivalent of the English version (and if there is disgreement between them, there is no reason to take the French version as carrying any greater weight)

Looks to me like French just doesn't have a single word for 'attribute', but rather uses 'descriptive element', but again with no implication that it must be intrinsic

example: one can describe Obama as being the successor to Bush, yet there is nothing intrinsic in this description, but still nothing to stop one classifying Obama as the successor to Bush ...

Stephen




________________________________
From: Francisco Welter-Schultes <fwelter at gwdg.de>
To: Francisco Welter-Schultes <fwelter at gwdg.de>; Stephen Thorpe <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>
Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu; aleache at ucdavis.edu
Sent: Mon, 7 June, 2010 10:22:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] New lizard species

It seems to be necessary to add an explicite explanation in the
Code's Glossary and in Art. 13.1.1 that descriptions solely based on
differential DNA are not recognized.

As always in such situations (when the English text seems to allow
various interpretations), the next step is to consult the French Code
and look for eventual specifications there.

Art. 13.1.1: être accompagné d'une description ou d'une définition
qui énonce les caractères permettant de différencier le taxon,

caractère, s. m. Élément descriptif d'organismes utilisé pour
décrire, classifier ou différencier des taxons.

So in the French Code the debatable term "attribute" is avoided, and
the idea that the character must be a descriptive element of the
organism itself is expressed even more clearly than in the English
Code. "Colour different from species B" or "DNA different from
species B" are not descriptive elements. In cases of doubts, you
can regard the French Code as decisive.

Francisco
University of Goettingen, Germany
www.animalbase.org