Taxacom: Tropicos and gender of names

[Sharkey, Michael J.]

Does all of this discourse not make it obvious that gender agreement is a Victorian era remnant that has no place in modern, machine-read, names? We only need unique identifiers. Complete nonsense. Stick with the original spelling regardless.

Michael Sharkey
The Hymenoptera Institute
Professor Emeritus
University of Kentucky
(859) 396-1649
msharkey at uky.edu
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sharkeylab.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C6d66a8985e934512a4ee08d9eab91b1b%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637798903019849628%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=t75zZDse%2BAlKKK0Xze2AZHGh9YN2vmIYepmcVgZfT6U%3D&reserved=0
________________________________
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> on behalf of Douglas Yanega via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 7, 2022 7:35 PM
To: Rafaël Govaerts <R.Govaerts at kew.org>; taxacom at lists.ku.edu <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
Subject: Re: Taxacom: Tropicos and gender of names

CAUTION: External Sender


On 2/7/22 2:16 PM, Rafaël Govaerts wrote:
> Dear Doug,
> In Botany, the rule is that the original spelling should be maintained
> unless it is against one of the articles.
> So e.g. https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fipni.org%2Fn%2F77142913-1&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C6d66a8985e934512a4ee08d9eab91b1b%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637798903019849628%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=ol5aQno5NALTARWkgRLlR4LNhz80bXZfj7HWVFqmhw8%3D&reserved=0
> Zingiber tenuiscapus is not to be corrected to tenuiscapa as it is
> correct as a noun.
>
> If a choice is possible, e.g. "nanus" in a masculine genus is
> transferred to a feminine genus and if the author uses "nanus" then
> that is not correctable as he treats it as a noun. Subsequent authors
> must then follow that.
> Unless of course in the original publication it clearly indicated as
> an adjective.

Apparently the Tropicos database does not follow this rule.

Zingiber is treated there as neuter, and it does not list this species.
It does, however, list both "didymoglossa" and "didymoglossum" under
Zingiber, both citing the same author and date. There is also a
"longiglande" which is grammatically impossible, and likewise would
appear to be an automated algorithm changing all "-is" endings to "-e"
even if they are genitive noun forms like "glandis".

Again, I was making two points: (1) not all resources are trustworthy,
nor do they yield consistent results (2) given this, we would do well to
place the burden of gender agreement on authoritative nomenclatural
registries, rather than individual taxonomists.

>
> There are many published books indicating the gender of genera,
> perhaps the best known is
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bgbm.org%2FIAPT%2Fncu%2Fgenera%2FImprintRegVegNCU3.htm&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C6d66a8985e934512a4ee08d9eab91b1b%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637798903019849628%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=4Jx%2Fyd1JEARHwYqk370xgT%2BaorKi4OcE63yQphRMP30%3D&reserved=0

This seems like precisely the sort of resource I am advocating for all
organismal names. If all botanists agree to adhere to whatever it says
in this source, *and* the names there are immune from being disputed and
changed, then it is EXACTLY what I am advocating: an authoritative
nomenclatural registry.

Peace,

--
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffaculty.ucr.edu%2F~heraty%2Fyanega.html&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C6d66a8985e934512a4ee08d9eab91b1b%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637798903019849628%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=E5RDoV3T%2FlqSDreBGrWZQxx9rXvnQG6KXpu%2FPiB8cwo%3D&reserved=0
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
_______________________________________________
Taxacom Mailing List

Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.ku.edu%2Flistinfo%2Ftaxacom&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C6d66a8985e934512a4ee08d9eab91b1b%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637798903019849628%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=LpqUSgWsS7ouzbbdfC9vRw6R0%2FD%2Bc5Y%2FA5mCT2ioEAk%3D&reserved=0
You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu
The Taxacom email archive back to 1992 can be searched at: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftaxacom.markmail.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C6d66a8985e934512a4ee08d9eab91b1b%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637798903019849628%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=HXLl7byti%2BatNsYyFZjTFVpLWbjMkQ8xDUjZ35BQT6k%3D&reserved=0

Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for about 35 years, 1987-2022.