[Taxacom] Best usage - spp (no period) or spp.?

[Tony.Rees at csiro.au]

Dear Barry,

That's what I would have thought - any dissenters?

By the way a search of the ICZN site for "spp" (with or without period) only turns up a few results, none of them definitive, but seemingly consistent in using the full stop:

http://iczn.org/search/apachesolr_search/spp


And the BZN "Instructions to authors" has "pp." as the abbreviation for pages (with full stop), similarly "pls." for plates (though no "spp")...

http://iczn.org/content/instructions-authors

Regards - Tony

> -----Original Message-----
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-
> bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Barry Roth
> Sent: Tuesday, 9 October 2012 1:28 PM
> To: TAXACOM
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Best usage - spp (no period) or spp.?
> 
> I'm mildly surprised no one who is or has been a biological editor has
> spoken up on this.  When I was the editor-in-chief of a biological
> journal -- print media, full text, prose -- I would have insisted (and
> probably did, if it ever came up) on the presence of a period.  "Spp."
> is an abbreviation, not an acronym or a symbol (as in stock ticker
> symbols --CSCO, GM) and the governing rule in such cases is to add the
> dot.  In another context, one or another databasing lingo, maybe not
> so.  But I would hope that when output from such a system has to be
> converted to prose readable by ordinary folk, the dots would appear.
> 
> Full stop.
> 
> From: "Tony.Rees at csiro.au" <Tony.Rees at csiro.au>
> To: gread at actrix.gen.nz
> Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Sent: Monday, October 8, 2012 3:57 PM
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Best usage - spp (no period) or spp.?
> 
> Hi Geoff,
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