Taxacom: Removals of offending scientific names

Thu Jun 22 13:23:35 CDT 2023

Well, I disagree. Species designations are hypotheses, and the names are
simply labels used for communication. My name is George, it is a label and
I don't even know or care what its meaning is. Because species names are
labels, I think they should be fixed and we should be using the original
spelling - as indeed Lepidopterists do (I am one). Having worked on large
electronic catalogues of names like the Global Lepidoptera Names Index
(LepIndex) and the Cockroach Species File, I am constantly irritated by the
name changes caused by gender agreement. Such changes complicate databasing
and the communication of taxonomic information.

George
****************************************************************************
*Dr George Beccaloni FLS*
*Director, Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project*

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****************************************************************************

On Thu, 22 Jun 2023 at 19:12, Richard Jensen <rjensen at saintmarys.edu> wrote:

> As I have argued elsewhere, species names are not just labels.  Once they
> have been created, they are a special class of proper names and have
> meanings.  If you know your study group, then as soon as you see a species
> name you can "define" the entity bearing that name.The characters (of any
> type) that allow one to distinguish Aus bus from Aus wus (or any other
> taxon) are species defining characters.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard J
>
> On Thu, Jun 22, 2023 at 10:49 AM Frank T. Krell via Taxacom <
> taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:
>
>> Nerdy, elitist gender agreement? Me thinking follow grammar being not so
>> badly. But that's just me 😊, coming from a language well organized by
>> grammar.
>> If you don't want gender agreement, create specific names as nouns in
>> apposition, like abba, beccaloni, boris. And you are right, names are just
>> labels.
>> I have recently seen a manuscript, hopefully soon to be published, that
>> finds that naming after celebrities helps much with the visibility of
>> taxonomy. This is important in these times where only things get recognized
>> and supported that people are talking about.
>> Names are always a reflection of the time in which they were created.
>> Eradicating history is counterproductive. We need to be reminded of these
>> villains of the past, as often as possible.
>> Frank
>>
>>
>> Dr. Frank-Thorsten Krell
>>
>> Senior Curator of Entomology, Editor-in-Chief
>> Commissioner and Councillor, International Commission on Zoological
>> Nomenclature
>> Department of Zoology
>> Denver Museum of Nature & Science
>> 2001 Colorado Blvd
>> Denver, Colorado 80205-5798, U.S.A.
>> Frank.krell at dmns.org
>> Phone 303.370.8244
>> Fax 303.331.6492
>> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dmns.org%2Fscience%2Fzoology%2Fstaff%2Ffrank-krell%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C2bdd921d07da4828ed8808db734dda5c%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638230550435773744%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=xyCStcHQL5Vq99EeOaOOTAkAJTdfdTSGq6n69aqOuY4%3D&reserved=0
>>
>> Bugs: They’re bigger, they’re better, they’re buggier than ever! It’s all
>> about precision flight, swarm intelligence and mind control in the world of
>> “Bugs," the exhibition. Marvel at their adaptive genius and see if you can
>> match their brilliance.
>>
>>
>> Bugs: Son más grandes, mejores y más increíbles que nunca. En la
>> exhibición "Bugs" todo gira en torno al vuelo de precisión, la inteligencia
>> en grupo y el control mental. ¡Descubre lo genios que son!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of George
>> Beccaloni via Taxacom
>> Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2023 5:11 AM
>> To: Michael Heads <m.j.heads at gmail.com>
>> Cc: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
>> Subject: Re: Taxacom: Removals of offending scientific names
>>
>> Names are just labels - there is no need to understand them. IMHO they
>> should be unchanging, and the nerdy, elitist requirements of the Code
>> relating to gender agreement should be scrapped as they make tracking
>> names
>> difficult in our modern computerised world.
>>
>> George
>>
>> ****************************************************************************
>> *Dr George Beccaloni FLS*
>> *Director, Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project*
>>
>> Wallace Correspondence Project: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwallaceletters.myspecies.info%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C2bdd921d07da4828ed8808db734dda5c%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638230550435929958%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=SplehTjypXMD10TXqHt%2F7TAFQ%2Frj9qjj4B52NBcfrTg%3D&reserved=0
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>> ResearchGate: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fprofile%2FGeorge-Beccaloni-2&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C2bdd921d07da4828ed8808db734dda5c%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638230550435929958%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=tkyRqC3iflpgUPDA%2F7baKm6Zxz4kCYxqNkPDp8kBAUM%3D&reserved=0
>>
>> ****************************************************************************
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 22 Jun 2023 at 11:58, Michael Heads via Taxacom <
>> taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:
>>
>> > Abba is a good name for a genus - short, memorable...  I'm grateful that
>> > the 19th century taxonomists who named most of the genera in many groups
>> > *didn't* use the names of contemporary pop groups, pet politicians and
>> > other cultural ephemera. If they had, the names would now be
>> > meaningless, and we instead we can write with future users in mind. But
>> > preferences like this should not be law!
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
>> > Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity and admiring alliteration for
>> > about 36 years, 1987-2023.
>> >
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>>
>> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity and admiring alliteration for
>> about 36 years, 1987-2023.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Taxacom Mailing List
>>
>> Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
>> For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
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>> The Taxacom email archive back to 1992 can be searched at:
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>>
>> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity and admiring alliteration for
>> about 36 years, 1987-2023.
>>
>
>
> --
> Richard Jensen, Professor Emeritus
> Department of Biology
> Saint Mary's College
> Notre Dame, IN 46556
>