[Taxacom] taxonomic resistance? (was Re: Phylocode vs Linnean)

[Doug Yanega]

Kim van der Linde wrote:

>Well, some form of phylocode is already the de facto situation in
>various groups where revising the taxonomy is held up by resistance of
>the community for new names. The subgenus Drosophila and its 10+
>included genera comes to mind.....

That didn't stop taxonomists from elevating the subgenera of Aedes to 
generic level, thus changing Aedes aegypti (one of the most 
widely-known insect names) to Stegomyia aegypti. Given how that 
particular example has played out, I think the "resistance" you refer 
to is not resistance by taxonomists, but resistance by 
*non*-taxonomists - and those are very different communities. If you 
tell the average taxonomist that Drosophila melanogaster is now going 
to be called Sophophora melanogaster, at most you'll get a raised 
eyebrow or a shrug, and then they'll get on with their life, and 
refer to it as Sophophora from that point on. Genus names change all 
the time in butterflies, too, and lepidopterists pick and choose 
their way through the morass, but even THEY (the one group of 
taxonomists that selectively refuses to accept gender agreement) 
accept generic name changes without noticeable resistance. Claiming 
that "the community" will not accept changes in genus names is, 
therefore, a bit of a straw man argument.

Sincerely,
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82