[Taxacom] Generic type of large genus belongs in different genus

[Paul van Rijckevorsel]

Yes, but in neither New Zealand nor the UK you are necessarily
the only Roderic Page (there may be an unlimited number of
persons with the exact same name). I am willing to bet that the 
number assigned to you by the civil administration (which is 
intended to be a unique identifier) is different in the UK from 
what it was in New Zealand.

Paul
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Roderic Page 
  To: TAXACOM 
  Cc: Paul van Rijckevorsel 
  Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 11:43 AM
  Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Generic type of large genus belongs in different genus




  On 8 Apr 2013, at 10:02, Paul van Rijckevorsel wrote:


    Obviously names do depend on taxonomy (and this has nothing
    to do with nomenclature). Names cannot be invariant, as taxa
    are not invariant. This works both ways:
    * one and the same taxon may have different names, depending
    on taxonomic placement.



  Why? Why change the name? This is a convention. If I switch citizenship from New Zealand to the UK I don't have to change my name. 




    * the same name refers to variously circumscribed taxa (and 
    everything in between).



  Sure, but the name hasn't changed, just what we think it points to.


    Only when you assume a God-created nature (with no religious
    disagreement on what-is-what), is it possible to have invariancy.



  But we can separate the things we point to using names from how we arrange those things. We have chosen not to, with a consequence that we are flooded with multiple names for the "same" thing (however you want to define "same"). 


  Regards


  Rod





    Taxa are the result of a process of growth (evolution) and they
    do not (naturally) fit into boxes (or into a Tree-of-Life). They have 
    to be shoe-horned into it, and general agreement is unlikely (thus
    no stability). To quote the famous saying: If you want stability of 
    names, first make sure all taxonomists are safely buried.

    Paul 

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

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

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

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

    Celebrating 26 years of Taxacom in 2013.




  ---------------------------------------------------------
  Roderic Page
  Professor of Taxonomy
  Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
  College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences
  Graham Kerr Building
  University of Glasgow
  Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK

  Email: r.page at bio.gla.ac.uk
  Tel: +44 141 330 4778
  Fax: +44 141 330 2792
  Skype: rdmpage
  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rdmpage
  Twitter: http://twitter.com/rdmpage
  Blog: http://iphylo.blogspot.com
  Home page: http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/rod.html
  Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roderic_D._M._Page
  Citations: http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=4Z5WABAAAAAJ
  ORCID id: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7101-9767


  Geen virus gevonden in dit bericht.
  Gecontroleerd door AVG - www.avg.com
  Versie: 2013.0.2904 / Virusdatabase: 2641/6182 - datum van uitgifte: 03/16/13
  Interne Virusdatabase is verouderd.