[Taxacom] Bacterial families ending in -ataceae

[Ken Kinman]

Dear All,
       I was looking more closely at some of the bacterial families ending in -ataceae.   Thermoplasmataceae and Mycoplasmataceae have type genera (Thermoplasma and Mycoplasma) in which both the prefix and the stem are Greek in origin.  
       However, family Ferroplasmaceae (not Ferroplasmataceae) has a type genus (Ferroplasma) in which the prefix (Ferro-) is Latin, but the stem is Greek (-plasma).  So perhaps when the genus name is a mixture of Latin and Greek, the authors of the family name can go either way.  Or does having a Latin prefix make it Latin instead of Greek?                              ----------------Ken