[Taxacom] Nannopterum auritus and N. brasilianus - or auritum and brasilianum?

[David Redei]

Dear Michael,

Nannopterum was apparently proposed here:
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/116087#page/265/mode/1up

Nannopterum evidently contains the latinized form of the neuter Greek noun
πτερόν (pterón) ("wing"). It is possible to latinize it as "pterum", but
this is indeed to be considered as neuter as well (Art. 30.1.3; consider
that the Latin ending "-um" [an adjective-forming suffix] is normally
neuter, at least in nominative, but in the particular case only nominative
makes sense). I agree with your assessment, the grammatic gender of
Nannopterum is neuter; and the Code requires it to be considered as neuter.

As a conclusion, I agree with you that the cited combinations should be
correctly Nannopterum auritum (the specific epithet is the Latin adjective
auritus, -a, -um) and N. brasilianum (formed from a geographic name with
the suffix -(i)anus, -(i)ana, -(i)anum). The practice of citing "N.
auritus" and "N. brasilianus" is erroneous, and it is probably rooted in
the fact that these species are frequently cited in combination with the
masculine generic name Phalacrocorax in the (correct) forms Ph. auritus and
Ph. brasilianus, see e.g.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-crested_cormorant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neotropic_cormorant

Authors who place them into Nannopterum probably simply do not bother to
change their ending. If you cite them in combination with Nannopterum, I
recommend to write N. auritum and N. brasilianum.

With best regards, David Redei


On Sun, 3 May 2020 at 09:03, Michael Heads via Taxacom <
taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:

> These are widespread pan-American cormorants. Isn't Nannopterum a
> Latinized, neuter word? Everyone cites auritus and brasilianus, but
> shouldn't it be auritum and brasilianum?
>   Yes, I did check the code first...!
> Thanks,
> Michael
> --
> Dunedin, New Zealand.
>
> My books:
>
> *Biogeography and evolution in New Zealand. *Taylor and Francis/CRC, Boca
> Raton FL. 2017.
>
> https://www.routledge.com/Biogeography-and-Evolution-in-New-Zealand/Heads/p/book/9781498751872
>
>
> *Biogeography of Australasia:  A molecular analysis*. Cambridge University
> Press, Cambridge. 2014. www.cambridge.org/9781107041028
>
>
> *Molecular panbiogeography of the tropics. *University of California Press,
> Berkeley. 2012. www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271968
>
>
> *Panbiogeography: Tracking the history of life*. Oxford University Press,
> New York. 1999. (With R. Craw and J. Grehan).
> http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=Bm0_QQ3Z6GUC
> <
> http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=Bm0_QQ3Z6GUC&dq=panbiogeography&source=gbs_navlinks_s
> >
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