Taxacom: Mandatory ending correction after 226 years of wrong usage - the Dasytes case

[Richard Pyle]

The reason for the different meaning of "stability" between ICZN Code and ICNafp Code is ultimately because of how the word "name" is generally treated differently between practitioners of the two Codes.

This is not precisely enshrined in the Zoological Code (not sure of the botanical Code), but in my many interactions with both categories of taxonomists, folks in the "afp" camp tend to consider a "name" as the full combination, including precise spelling (hence the tracking of authorships of combinations); whereas many in the "Z" camp think of the "name" as a conceptual object, rather than a precise orthography or combination.

For example, whereas the "afp" folks might see the name "Aus albus" as one name, many of the "Z" folks would see that as two "names" (one in the genus group, and one in the species group).  But the Z folks are a bit inconsistent on this, as the current Code Glossary provides three definitions for the word "name":

"(1) (general) A word, or ordered sequence of words, conventionally used to denote and identify a particular entity (e.g. a person, place, object, concept). (2) Equivalent to scientific name (q.v.). (3) An element of the name of a species-group taxon: see generic name, subgeneric name, specific name, subspecific name."

Number 2 is more or less consistent with the "afp" interpretation, but many (most?) zoologists I know tend to think of it more in the sense of number 3 definition.

But more to the point, I, and I believe many others, measure "stability" in terms of the *conceptual* name, not in terms of any particular combination or orthography.  As Doug explained, "stability" in this sense, means there is an objective set of rules to determine whether the species-group epithet "bus" has nomenclatural priority over the species-group epithet "cus", such that when the name-bearing type of each of these names is deemed taxonomically conspecific, all workers will consistently select the same epithet (also incorporating objective rules for availability).  By contrast, many (admittedly not all) zoologists would not interpret a change in generic classification (e.g., "Aus bus" to "Mus bus"), or a change in orthography ("bus" when combined with a masculine genus, vs. "ba" when combined with a feminine genus or "bum" when combined with a neuter genus) as "nomenclatural instability") as "instability" in the nomenclatural sense.

In other words, from the perspective of many zoologists the "stability" that matters is the conceptual name units and their respective availabilities and priorities, rather than any particular combination (=classification) or orthography (=spelling, specific string of characters).

No doubt some zoologists will disagree with my interpretation above.

Aloha,
Rich

Richard L. Pyle, PhD
Director of EXCORE | Senior Curator of Ichthyology | Database Coordinator for Natural Sciences
Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum
1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, HI 96817-2704
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of Paul van
> Rijckevorsel via Taxacom
> Sent: Sunday, February 2, 2025 5:44 AM
> To: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
> Subject: Re: Taxacom: Mandatory ending correction after 226 years of wrong
> usage - the Dasytes case
> 
> 
> On 29/01/2025 23:44, Douglas Yanega via Taxacom wrote:
> >
> > [...] Second, you seem to be using a different definition of stability
> > than what the Code uses. [...] Instability is *when taxonomists
> > disagree* on what name/spelling/variant to use. The Code's concept of
> > stability/instability is more akin to the dichotomy between consensus
> > and dispute, and not the sense of "never changing". Names can change a
> > LOT without creating instability, as long as all taxonomists adopt the
> > changes.
> ***
> If the zoological /Code/ were to mean this by "instability" this would
> represent an extremely unfortunate choice of words, quite unnecessary
> because there is no lack of words which would avoid this ambiguity.
> 
> Also, it would be quite counter to the spirit of a /Code/ of nomenclature, in
> general. The purpose of a /Code/ is to govern names (directly), and thereby
> promote consensus among users (that is, indirectly). Not the other way
> round.
> 
> It is also contradicted by Principle 4: "... would be destructive of stability or
> universality ..." which clearly accepts stability and universality as two
> separate concepts.
> 
> FWIW, under the 'botanical' Code, it is not at all uncommon to conserve
> generic names with a particular gender, so as to avoid changes in endings of
> epithets.
> 
> Paul
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